This work betrays a similar format composition to Reclining Nude (1962), an oil on canvas, which was sold at the Henry Butcher Art Auction on Nov 12, 2017. The nude woman takes up the diagonal slant, with another nude, back turned, with only back of head shown, against a backdrop. Here, the nude with back to viewer and cut to shoulder, must be a man, with a bulkier frame. The reclining nude is not shown in full flesh, with modesty somewhat couched by a play of tonal quality and purported shadows. Khalil's works of solitary nudes are mostly from his St. Martin's (London) days, between 1960 and 1965, with post-graduate studies in 1965. Coming from a conservative kampung in Kelantan and Pahang, Khalil also used abstract as concealment in some of his early nudes. Two other nudes, one a 1964 charcoal on paper and the other a 1973 (regurgitated?) nude labelled St Martin II, had also appeared in the HB auctions on April 29, 2018 and Oct 28, 2018 respectively. Another, Portrait Of A Nude (1965), is of a scrawny young girl, probably a part-time model. Khalil Ibrahim was surprisingly not bound by any government contract when he returned in September 1966 from his studies at St. Martin's School of Art and Design (National Diploma of Design, with another year post-graduate studies) despite being on a Pahang State Government scholarship. And he became a fulltime artist ever since until he suffered a stroke which rendered his working left hand weak. He became noticed when he won 2nd Prize in the Malayan Life national art competition in 1959 for his painting of a fisherman. In 1970, he had a double solo at the Samat Art Gallery and another solo in Indonesia. He had taken part in the X Sao Paulo Biennale and other exhibitions at the Fukuoka Museum of Art, Japan; The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; The Victoria Gallery, Melbourne; and the Royal National Art Gallery, Jordan.