Louis Anquetin

Private Collection, Paris (probably a gift from the artist)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1962

Anquetin, La Passion d'être peintre (exhibition catalogue), Galerie Brame et Lorenceau, Paris, 1991, p. 86,  doc. 20, illustration of the artist's studio showing the present work

Louis Anquetin moved to Paris around 1882 from his home in Normandy and soon became close friends with his fellow art students Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Emile Bernard in Cormon's studio.  John House and Mary Stevens write 'He established a reputation as a brilliant, innovatory artist and the leader of the café-cabaret circle centred on Aristide Bruant's Le Mirliton in Montmartre. Anquetin consulted Monet about Impressionism in 1886 before rejecting all naturalist styles to produce Cloisonnism by summer 1887. His subject matter included townscapes, café-cabaret scenes, nudes, the racecourse and fashionable women (J. House & M. Stevens, Post-Impressionism, Cross-Currents in European Painting, London, 1979, p. 28). This fascination with Cloisonnisme stemmed partly from Anquetin's interest in the stylised effects found in stained glass windows and enamelled boxes of the Middle Ages. Most notable, however, was the impact Japanese prints had on the artist. In March 1887, his friend and fellow student Vincent Van Gogh organised an exhibition of Japanese prints in the cabaret Le Tambourin which profoundly effected Anquetin's style. He began to emphasise the linear quality of his forms, while at the same time simplifying the structure of his compositions.

1890 saw the culmination of this style, as Anquetin married the emphasis on outline with large plains of strong colour. Although he was not the first to realise the effect of colour on the emotions, it was the idea that it could express a state of mind and have an impact on the viewer that led to the addition of heightened colour. In the present work, the sitter's pale face, hand and white blouse bring a sense of calm to an otherwise rich and exotic composition. The details of her form are elegantly refined to contrast with the warmth and energy of her surroundings.

It was also around this time that the artist starting using pastel as a medium in which to explore his new ideas. It lent itself well to the creation of bright planes in subtly changing tones and refined black outlines with which to pick out the details of the forms. The present work is part of a series of large pastels of seated women which portray a new intimacy between the artist and his model (see: Anquetin, La Passion d'être peintre (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., 1991, cat. nos. 28 & 30). The same sitter, dressed identically as in the present work, can be seen in Profil de femme lisant un journal which is in the Tate Gallery in London (see: Anquetin, La Passion d'être peintre (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., 1991, cat. no. 31).