Female Nude By Charles Picart Le Doux (1881–1959)

A painting depicting a nude woman reclining on a blanket, wearing only a piece of fabric across her upper thighs, who has just taken off her shoes. Her head is held high, her gaze lost beyond the frame, her torso upright, and her legs bent. Her hair and makeup are still intact. Her brown hair is short, in a boyish style. She appears pensive and focused.

A very beautiful, intimate painting by the French artist Charles Picart Le Doux, whose signature appears in the lower left corner, followed by the year (19)34.

The style is quite realistic, with a beautiful play of light on the body, evoking Impressionism.

Large format, with a simple frame.

Dimensions: 112 x 162 cm.

Charles Picart Le Doux 1881–1959

Charles Picart Le Doux was a modernist painter; the angular structures and underlying geometry in many of his works reveal, in particular, the influence of Cézanne.

He was a friend of Renoir and was also influenced by his work. His colorful palette is sensual and luminous. His favorite subjects include nudes, landscapes, and still lifes.

Charles Picard Le Doux studied at the Académie Julian and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris until 1902. He lived in Montmartre and frequented the Lapin Agile, where he met Suzanne Valandon, Maurice Utrillo, and many other artists.

Beginning in 1903, he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne, of which he would later become a member, then at the Salon des Indépendants in 1906, and at the Salon des Tuileries starting in 1926.

The interest generated by his early paintings led the BLOT Gallery in Paris to dedicate its first major exhibition to him. The Vildrac Gallery opened its doors to him, soon followed by many others in France.

In the 1920s, Picart Le Doux exhibited in Paris at the Charpentier and Drouant-David galleries. In 1933, he was awarded the Legion of Honor. That year, he held numerous exhibitions in France and Luxembourg, among other places.

From 1934 to 1939, he decorated part of the salons on the ocean liner Le Normandie. He was awarded the Grand Gold Medal at the 1937 Paris International Exposition. He also illustrated works by a large number of authors: Colette, Albert Samain (*Hyalis*), Charles Vildrac (*Livre d’amour*), Baudelaire, Georges Duhamel, Jules Romain…

During World War II, he settled in Tours, in the Touraine region, where he decorated the prefecture and created more than a hundred paintings and portraits.

After the war, he returned to Paris to his studio on Rue Boisonade. He helped decorate the town hall of the 14^th arrondissement and held exhibitions in France and abroad, including in San Francisco and Oslo.

The government commissioned him to create Les poètes de l'Abbaye (Jules Romains, Georges Duhamel, Charles Vildrac, Luc Durtain).

He held his final exhibition at the Mariac Gallery in 1959.

Charles Picart Le Doux died on September 11, 1955, in Paris.

He was the father of painter Yves Picart Le Doux, painter and cardboard artist Jean Picart Le Doux (1902–1982), and Jacqueline Picart Le Doux.

Many museums hold his paintings: Algiers, Bagnols, Casablanca, The Hague, Le Havre, Monaco, Nice, Tours, as well as the Musée du Petit-Palais and the Musée national d’art moderne in Paris, New York, the NeWestMuseum (Hermitage, Moscow), and Tokyo (Imperial Collection).

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Picart_Le_Doux

https://www.newestmuseum.ru/data/authors/p/picart_ch/index.php?lang=fr