Louise Hervieu (1878-1954), Fly, Circa 1925, Charcoal And White Chalk On Paper

Louise Hervieu (1878-1954)
Fly, circa 1925
Charcoal and white chalk on paper
5.3 x 5.3 cm
framed 22 × 17 cm

Born in 1878 in Alençon, Louise Hervieu showed an early aptitude for drawing. She attended evening drawing classes in Paris reserved for young women before completing her training at the Académie Colarossi. From 1910 onwards, her fragile health and failing eyesight forced the artist to give up painting and devote herself exclusively to drawing.

Louise Hervieu proved more at ease with the strong contrasts afforded by charcoal and ink on paper. She developed a refined style using washes and charcoal, characterized by light nuances achieved by allowing the whiteness of the paper to stand out. A mysterious light envelops the forms depicted with bold, supple lines, giving them a striking relief in an atmosphere imbued with lyricism. Among her favorite subjects are still lifes and Louis XV-style interiors teeming with tapestries and objects, to which she gives as much importance as to the figures.

Thanks to the support of art critic Félix Fénéon, she created the illustrations for an edition of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal, published in 1920. That same year, her drawings were exhibited at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery. The artist, who was also a writer, illustrated her own texts.

We find flies similar to the one in the drawing we are presenting, illustrating the cover of her book, *Entretiens sur le dessin avec Geneviève* (Conversations on Drawing with Geneviève), published in 1921. Geneviève is none other than Geneviève Bernheim de Villers (1907-1936), the art dealer's daughter, then 14 years old, who devoted herself to painting and drawing. The cover of the 1934 edition is also illustrated with insects reminiscent of our drawing.

Louise Hervieu participated, among other things, in exhibitions organized by the Société des Femmes Artistes Modernes (FAM), founded in 1931 by Marie-Anne Camax-Zoegger (1881-1952). The Musée Galliera in Paris dedicated a retrospective exhibition to her alongside Suzanne Valadon and Marie-Anne Camax-Zoegger in 1961.