Madeleine Plantey (1890-1985) - Female Nude From Behind

Madeleine Plantey (1890-1985)
Female back nude
Oil on canvas
Signed upper left
Size of the work : 38 x 61 cm


Originally from Avignon, Madeleine Plantey follows the drawing course of the Lyonnais painter Tony Tollet before s set up in his own workshop on rue Laurencin in Lyon. His Sunday getaways in the countryside are an opportunity to paint the Rhone landscapes, the flora of which becomes the subject of charming still lifes. A prolific artist, Madeleine Plantey is particularly known for her representations of the female body, sometimes in ballerinas, sometimes in interior scenes.

In 1939, the Galerie Charpentier, where the greatest painters of his time were presented, devoted an exhibition to him in his private mansion at 76, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris. Her female nudes and dancers in tutu are particularly well received by critics. Madeleine Plantey is also regularly exhibited in the galleries of rue Auguste Comte in Lyon and presents several of her works in Parisian salons. His first nude joined the French national collections in 1949 and is to this day kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon.

The oil on canvas that we offer represents a young woman naked from the back, lying down, loose blonde hair. She is lying on a sofa covered by different fabrics and framed by drapes whose folds highlight the sinuosity of the lines of her body. In the background, the drapery of the garment expertly placed on the back of a chair contributes to the balance of the composition. Madeleine Plantey was also attentive to the movement of the model's right arm and to the position of her legs.

There are many references to the great nudes that have marked art history, from Ingres' odalisques to the infinite variety of intimate nudes by Degas which have helped make the artist one of the major figures of modern painting. Indeed, during the second half of the 19th century, the representation of nudity emancipated itself from the academic idealization inherited from classical antiquity until it became a particular genre inscribed in contemporaneity. Public collections Lyon, Museum of Fine Arts Avignon, Calvet Museum

Public collections
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Avignon, Musée Calvet