Portrait Of A Man

Pencil portrait of a man, signed and dated “Marie Rehm, 1880,” an early work by the French painter Marie Jeanne Rehm (1854–1930).
Here, the artist demonstrates remarkable mastery of drawing and form, using varying intensities of pencil to render the volume of the face, the hair, and, above all, the depth of the clothing. The background, entirely rendered with fine hatching, helps to set the figure apart and lends the composition a beautiful graphic density.
Marie Jeanne Rehm, born in Raville in 1854 and died in Lavaur in 1930, belonged to a generation of women artists who gradually made their mark on the French art scene of the late 19th century. She was notably a student of Jean-Jacques Henner, Carolus-Duran, and Raphaël Collin, three leading figures in French academic painting. She exhibited at the Salon beginning in 1880 and later became a drawing instructor. She was also a member of the Société des Artistes Français.
The year 1880 is therefore particularly interesting: it corresponds precisely to Marie Rehm’s debut at the Salon. At only twenty-six years old at the time, the artist already demonstrates in this portrait a very confident technique and a genuine interest in the psychological study of the subject.