A curious habit of patting you upon the cheek which is rather disconcerting.

Gladys Emma Peto was an English artist, fashion designer and illustrator. She married Cuthbert Lindsay Emmerson of the Royal Army medical Corps and, during the 1920’s, she travelled with him to Malta, Cyprus and Egypt. An outcome of her travels was the book ‘Malta and Cyprus’ and ‘The Egypt of the Sojourner’ published by J.M. Dent for the Outward Bound Library. In her art deco style, she was clearly influenced by Aubrey Beardsley. This painting was created by the artist after her encounter with a village woman who patted her on the cheek. The artist’s surprise and discomfort, expressively presented in her posture, is typical of individuals reared in modern societies where people have specific cultural perceptions regarding the inviolability of personal space. In contrast, people living in Cypriot traditional rural societies perceive physical contact differently and regard gestures like these as expressions of endearment and affection. The artist stresses the rural character of the setting by including a village scene in the background. Peto’s daring artistic attempt to transform the rural life of Cyprus into Art Deco images and her successful combination of disparate styles, such as the traditional and the avant-garde, make her work notable.