who painted this?

zo. Happy New Year.  

I was wondering if anyone knew who painted this. This is one of my most favorite works, I see it in the media almost every Halloween, and as I do research, preparing to get back into Fine Art this spring, Im thinking heavily about doing classical oil painting to complement the sculpture. Theres a signature at the bottom, but I can't make it out.

so I was wondering if anyone recognized it.

Im sure for its time, it was probably quite controversial. doesn't seem like anything by todays standards, but its a lot like Josephine Baker in her time. She used her sensuality, and unabashed lack of personal inhibition to bring light to social injustices at the time.

So in a way, ive decided its time to decide where im going with this whole Fine Art thing. The irony, is that i never had any intention of doing 'Fine Art', and even to this day, I never actually considered myself a quote, unquote, 'sculptor'. Believe it or not, I was actually a Photography Major. Sculpture was just another form of art that I dabbled in, and quickly found I was very good at. So I guess you could say I approached everything from a photographer's mindset. And what I mean by that, is well, a very liberal idealism. I dont think it so bold or presumptuous to say Photography was the very tip of the spear of Progressivism. There was nothing that was too extreme, or too taboo of a subject matter that another photographer had not already done.

I wanted to do glamour photography of people who had undergone physical trauma, but had risen above the adversity, and reclaimed their lives. 'You are beautiful inside and out.' I guess is the message I wanted to convey. But lacking the resources, alas, it remained a dream. Fast forward in time, now im thinking of revisiting that ideal by doing sculptures of breast cancer survivors. Maybe some painting as well, in the Classical Baroque style.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone recognized the work, and possibly what is the artist's name & title of the piece. (because then I can google it. )