HENRI LEBASQUE 1865 Champigné - Le Cannet 1937

LE CLAIRE KUNST SEIT 1982

Nu se coiffant

Oil on light pink laid paper with watermark: Ingres; c.1920. Signed at the lower right: Lebasque. 622 x 418 mm

Henri Lebasque first trained as an artist in Angers at the École régionale des beaux-arts before taking up studies at the École des beaux-arts in Paris in 1886 under Léon Bonnat. He came into contact with the Nabis, an artists’ group founded in Paris in 1888. He was to be greatly influenced by the work of Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard. He also knew Paul Signac, Maximilien Luce and Camille Pissarro.

When Lebasque inaugurated the Salon d’Automne in 1903 with his friend Henri Matisse, he was already a well-established artist. Critics praised his work for its originality and delicate handling of the effects of light. The painting he contributed to the Salon in 1920 was reviewed as one of the best paintings in the Salon; 1 one can already see it on the wall of a boudoir or a museum and recognized in fifty years’ time as it is today. Like the Fauves, who first exhibited in 1905 at the Salon d’Automne, Lebasque favoured a certain formal flatness and an original use of strong, bright colours rather than the representational, realistic approach of the Impressionists.

In 1924 he moved to Le Cannet, near Cannes, on the French Riviera, where he was to spend the rest of his life. Here, he produced an important series of sensuous paintings after nude models. He shared his two most frequent models --- the blonde Marinette and the dark-haired Kiki --- with his friend and neighbour Pierre Bonnard. Another close neighbour was Henri Matisse.

Life in the Midi went hand in hand with a profound stylistic change in his work. He radically lightened and loosened his palette. His intimate portraits of women and children are pervaded with a sense of calm which reflects the richness and the pleasures of life. Lebasque’s main subject was his family. He depicted placid scenes of family life --- in the garden, on the beach, on the terrace and at 2 table --- placing the personal element in something of a more significant context. His figures are often idealized, their identity obscured by careful omission of facial features.

In the present study the model is captured in an intimate moment such as Lebasque frequently depicted and in a pose that often recurs in his work. She is shown arranging her hair, arms raised and 3 face lowered, decorating her dark curls with white flowers. The morning sun gleams on her naked

1 Lebasque 1865-1937, exhib. cat., San Francisco, Montgomery Gallery, 1986, p. 16. 2 Lebasque, exhib. cat., San Francisco 1986, p. 12. 3 The painting titled Nu au collier de perles executed in 1923 shows the model a few moments later: the flowers are now arranged in her hair, she is about to put on a pearl necklace. See Denise Bazetoux, Henri Lebasque. Catalogue raisonné - Tome 1, Neuilly-sur-Marne 2008, p. 272, no. 1090. Two related drawings are the undated Nu se coiffant (depicting a seated model), see Bazetoux, op.cit. no. 1060, p. 266; and an earlier work dating from 1906-11 titled Nu à la fontaine, see Bazetoux, op. cit., p. 256 f., nos. 1008-9 and 1011-2.

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skin and deep black outlines the contours of her body. Despite the brevity of execution of the sheet with its sketchlike quality --- the position of the right arm has been corrected --- it nevertheless demonstrates the virtuosity of Lebasque’s draughtsmanship. Vivid reflections of light heighten and model the flesh tones, the pose is intimate, delicate and restrained. Around the figure a flurry of broad brushstrokes in rich rust-red adds a decorative touch and suggests the shimmer of silk as a backdrop.

Maria de la Ville Fromoit, Crozon, has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.