Channeling Whistler

I just love this painting, The Lady in White by JM Whistler. Perhaps it is the sculptor in me who loves the white-on-white. She's a sculpture against a white backdrop, but her flesh is real. Sculpture come to life; it is all of our fantasies. She isn't alive because she is realistic, however. Hyper-realism doesn't make a painting or sculpture come alive! It is rather the presence of the work. Do you know how you can tell if another person is in the room, even if you cannot see him? This painting is that way. She's in the room with you, alive.