Presumed Portrait Of Ludmilla Pitoeff, Janet Clerck Circa 1930

Oil on canvas signed Janet Clerk, depicting a female face with closed eyes, suspended between sky and sea.
The work is linked to Ludmilla Pitoëff (1896–1951), a major actress of the Parisian theater, known for having embodied an inner, serious and stripped-down Joan of Arc in the 1920s and 1930s. The painting does not show Joan of Arc in her traditional warrior heroine features, but translates, through a refined and mystical vision, the spirit of the saint: recollection, sacrifice and elevation.
The soft light, the blue hues and the closed posture of the face refer to a meditative Joan of Arc, faithful to the sensitive and unembellished interpretation that Ludmilla Pitoëff brought to the stage.
At the same time, this feminine figure, dressed in light, also evokes the silhouette of the nurses of the 1914/1918 war, whose discreet and benevolent presence deeply marked the collective imagination.
The red reflection lips on the sea, discreet but vibrant, seems to speak of both the blood shed and the transmitted word, in a subtle fusion between historical martyrdom and anonymous figures of devotion.
Janet Clerk, a little-documented artist, moved in Parisian artistic circles between the two wars. Painter and sculptor, she was the wife of Sir George Russell Clerk (1874-1951), British ambassador to France (1934-1937). She pursued her career as a painter between 1920 and 1940. She exhibited her works alongside artists such as Bonnard, Chagall, Matisse, Picasso and Vuillard at the Berheim gallery, the Berri gallery and the André Weil gallery. Among her works are the portraits of personalities such as the Prince of Wales and Mr. and Mrs. Chagall, exhibited in 1937 at Bernheim. The Centre Georges Pompidou holds a portrait of her by Chagall painting and a painting of a merry-go-round. Lady Clerk was also a sculptor: an Imaginary Bird is held at the Centre Pompidou.

Very good overall condition (slight wear on the edges).

Frame 60x58 cm