Madeleine Cartailhac Painting Portrait Of Young Woman Art Nouveau Period Pastel Décor 1900

Art nouveau pastel signed Madeleine Cartailhac, portrait of young woman, dated 1910

Pastel portrait depicting a young woman in bust, three-quarter view, dressed in a black dress with high lace collar, in a very Art Nouveau setting. The work is signed upper left "Cartailhac" and dated 1910.

The young woman wears a hairstyle characteristic of the 1900-1910 period: hair pulled up in wide lateral volumes, structured chignon, dark ornaments set into the hair mass. The black dress, with its high lace collar, corresponds to the feminine elegance of the late Belle Époque: restrained silhouette, covered neck, sobriety of black, with refinement of fabric and pattern. It's not an ostentatious worldly image; it's an intimate, bourgeois, highly polished portrait, where distinction comes through restraint.

Madeleine Cartailhac, born around 1880 and died in 1938, was a painter from Toulouse, daughter of the famous prehistorian Émile Cartailhac. The Toulouse Museum reports that the Musée des Augustins holds four paintings by her, including two portraits of Émile Cartailhac; a portrait of Émile Cartailhac in his study, dated circa 1910, is also mentioned in the Toulouse collections. His known output includes portraits, oils and pastels, with several public sales referencing signed and dated pastels in particular, including a Portrait de dame à la robe rose dated 1917 and a Portrait de jeune enfant dated 1926.

This pastel therefore fits perfectly into his register: the female portrait, sensitive, precise, built around the face and the model's psychological presence. The skin tone is very delicately worked, with slightly rosy cheeks, soft lips and a clear gaze that stares directly at the viewer. The contrast between the luminous face and the black mass of the dress gives the composition its full force. The blue-green background, animated by a visible pastel movement, brings a very Art Nouveau decorative vibrancy.

The total format is 55 x 47 cm, for a view of approximately 46 x 38 cm.

Overall apparent good condition. Pastel under glass. Some photographic highlights, light dust under glass removed since shooting. Richly ornate gilt frame, in the Belle Époque / early 20th century spirit.