The Sensual Art of Drawing

On any given day, Los Angeles teems with well-toned, fresh-faced hopefuls waiting for their big break. You can find them on the beach or if you get lucky, bump into one of them at Schwab's Drugstore on Sunset Blvd. At least that's where, according to legend, a Hollywood agent discovered the divine Lana Turner in the 1930's. If that same agent lived in Paris in the 1880s, I wonder what he would think about the beautiful barmaid at the Folies-Bergère, the one that Édouard Manet immortalized in his famous painting. Though the girls there were known for their easy virtues, this melancholic beauty seems lost in her own thoughts and not the least bit interested in responding to us viewers or the customer standing in front of her...