Marie-thérèse Bourrat (lyon, 1938) “nude In Black Stockings”

Pastel and charcoal on paper – Original work, signed and dated

An elegant and daring figurative composition created in 1974 by the Lyon-based painter Marie-Thérèse Bourrat.

Titled Nude in Black Stockings, this work depicts a female nude in a close-up, deliberately fragmented composition. The artist focuses the viewer’s gaze on the curves of the body, emphasized by the striking contrast between the skin tones rendered in pastel and the depth of the black stockings.

The composition stands out for its intimate and sensual approach, straddling the line between realism and modern figurative art. The warm tones, subtle gradations of texture, and treatment of shadows lend the work a particularly assertive visual presence.

Marie-Thérèse Bourrat, born in 1938 in Lyon, is a French painter associated with the Lyon art scene of the second half of the 20th century.

A self-taught artist, she exhibited her first works at the age of seventeen. Encouraged by the painter Jean Couty and supported by the art critic René Deroudille, she gradually developed a personal, sensitive, and deeply introspective pictorial universe.

Her work explores, in particular, the female figure, intimacy, everyday objects, and interior spaces. Her often unexpected compositions, color contrasts, and expressive treatment of forms reveal a unique approach to figurative art.

Close to the Lyon art scene, she exhibited regularly at the Le Lutrin gallery, notably in several solo exhibitions between 1968 and 1988.

Her work has also been shown in various galleries in Lyon and Paris, contributing to her recognition within the realm of postwar French figurative painting.

Marie-Thérèse Bourrat’s works are included in the following collections, among others:

• Paul-Dini Municipal Museum, Villefranche-sur-Saône: notably Nude Tying Her Bun, 1961.

• Renaud Foundation, Lyon: Nude by Lamplight, 1980, oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm, featured in the exhibition Revealing the Invisible: Women on Display in 2023.

• Rhône Department Collection: documented presence of the work La pile de linge.

These references attest to the artist’s place in Lyon’s 20th-century artistic heritage.

• Artist: Marie-Thérèse Bourrat (born in 1938)

• Title: Nude in Black Stockings

• Date: 1974

• Technique: Pastel and charcoal on paper

• Dimensions: 50 × 38 cm

• Signature: Signed and dated

• Presentation: Framed under glass

• Period: 20th century