William Bailey Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Graphite on paper Signed and dated in pencil Note: The model depicted is named Dee. Bailey used her for the subject of a group of drawings in 1975. Two other drawings of her are illu...

This intimate nude portrait shows a curly-haired young woman facing the artist with her right leg propped up. This early pencil drawing is signed and dated 1976 by one of America's premiere figurative artists. This drawing was created before the controversy created in 1982 when Newsweek published a Bailey on its cover. See below: "Newsweek magazine may have painted itself into a corner by featuring a nude portrait on the cover of its June 7 issue. Readers, newsstand operators and the Moral Majority all want to cover up the cover. A city attorney for Lubbock, Texas, says the magazine may be a violation of a city ordinance because it exposes minors to pornography. Stores and newsstands selling it could be prosecuted. The artwork in question is 'Portrait of S' by William Bailey, now a Yale University painting instructor, and shows a stark, pensive woman sitting with her dressed pulled down to reveal her breasts. The accompanying article is entitled 'Revival of Realism.' A Sarasota, Fla., magazine wholesaler went so far as place gum-backed pasties on the woman's breasts. Some dealers have hidden Newsweek behind other magazines and at a Fast Fare convenience store in Raleigh, N.C., it is available on request -- from the 'adults only' rack. 'It's a painting and it doesn't bother me personally, but a lot of people might find it offensive,' said store manager Charlie Smith. 'There was general astonishment that Newsweek would put something like that on the cover,' said Marvin Rose, newsstand operator in New York's Daily News Building. 'I had to reassure quite a few people that it was Newsweek ... Some of them said, 'This is art? What's happening to Newsweek?'' Avery Hunt, director of public affairs for Newsweek, said 3 million copies were distributed and newsstand sales were twice as big as normal in New York City. Hunt said the magazine has received 'about a dozen phone calls' protesting the cover and that 'one or two of the callers...