Painting: Portrait Of A Nude Woman—model's Back In The Painter's Studio—eroticism, 1950

A beautiful oil painting on hardboard depicting a female nude from the back in a painter’s and sculptor’s studio. The model is positioned in the center of the composition, standing in a natural pose near a stool covered with a yellow drape. On the left, an open door offers a view of another room in the studio with a window and objects scattered about. On the right, a low piece of furniture can be seen, and behind the model, a white sculpture on a sculptor’s pedestal.

This work falls within the realm of modern figurative painting, bridging post-Fauvism, French Expressionism, and studio painting. The subject transcends a simple nude study: the painter captures an intimate moment within the very space of creation.

The model appears to be awaiting the painter’s instructions, in a natural pose, without any exaggerated staging. This restrained presence lends the painting a quiet atmosphere, directly linked to the world of the studio.

The brushwork is free and swift, with the composition built up through masses of color. The skin is rendered in shades of ochre, pink, brown, and orange, set off by the bright yellow of the drapery. Deep shadows outline the body and emphasize the lines of the back, hips, and legs. The setting remains deliberately simplified: the door, window, furniture, sculpture, and stool are indicated by broad strokes, without superfluous detail. The unpainted areas play an essential role. Certain parts of the panel remain sparsely worked or merely touched upon, which gives the composition breathing room. The untreated background in places directly serves the subject: it avoids a closed, decorative effect and focuses the viewer’s gaze on the model’s silhouette. This pictorial economy gives the work a sense of immediacy, somewhere between a studio study and a finished painting.

The style evokes the Toulouse School of the 1950s, in the vein of Maurice Mélat or Raymond Espinasse, with its emphasis on the live model, the female nude, the studio setting, and the figure constructed through color.

1950s.
In the style of Maurice Mélat or Raymond Espinasse.
Provenance: Toulouse estate.

Oil on hardboard.

Dimensions
54 x 43 cm.