Anthony Christian is about as far from a retiring humble artist as is possible to imagine, which is one reason why he has been so successful. His three volumes of autobiography, Art and Soul, chronicle his personal journey through art history, in almost every corner of the world, and his relationships with many of the great and good. He is not afraid to include himself in his work, and the erotic paintings in which he appears say a great deal about his lively and varied sensual imagination, though there is a preponderance of conventionally beautiful young women with himself as the sole participant.

The large canvas ‘An Artist’s Thoughts Imploding’, shown here in its entirety and in detailed sections, is the most telling, in which a diminutive artist is surrounded by a woodland dripping with naked women. Maybe the last two paintings, ‘Self-portrait leaving my Model at the End of the Day’ and ‘Lost in Thought’, are more honest reflections on the relationship between artist, model, and reality.