Elegant Woman Reclining In A Negligee By Albert Joseph Penot (french, 1862-1930)

The erotic watercolor was created at the turn of the 20th century by the French painter Albert Joseph Pénot (1862 – 1930). He was known for his female nudes and landscapes. Today, he is more popularly and specifically recognized for a subset of female-centered paintings with darker, more macabre themes. In 2018, his “The Bat Woman” sold for £137,500. Pénot was primarily concerned with anatomically accurate representations of women. Singular female forms were central to his work, while the worlds surrounding his characters are rarely realized beyond foggy atmospheres and patches of light and shadow. The environments are incidental and are generally shrouded in mist, giving explicit priority to the characters themselves. However, Pénot was more versatile in his art and did not limit himself exclusively to female nudes: church figures were another of his subjects, in addition to occasional compositions depicting scenes of upper-class men and women in stories framed by more conventional settings.

Literature: Thieme/Becker XXVI, 1932, 386, Benezit, Wikipedia online. Inscription: signed lower right.
Technique: watercolor on paper, matted and framed.
Dimensions: image W 17 2/3" x H 12 2/3" (45.3 x 32 cm), unframed W 24" x H 18 1/8" (61 x 46 cm), framed W 26 3/4" x H 20 3/4" (68 x 52.8 cm).
Etat: tre bon.