Suzanne Valadon

Georges Lehoucq, Roubaix
Thence by descent to the present owner

Paris, Pinacothèque, Valadon - Utrillo, Au tournant du siècle - de l'Impressionnisme à l'Ecole de Paris, 2009, no. 104

Paul Pétridès, L'Oeuvre complet de Suzanne Valadon, Paris, 1971, no. P272, illustrated

Work is in very good condition. Canvas is not lined and bear a lively, textured surface. Canvas is very slighly loose and undulating. Some very minor abrasions are visible around extreme perimeter due to prior framing. Faint vertical stretcher bar mark at center. Under UV light: a few pindot retouches in figures right arm and leg, as well as two very small strokes to the upper left of figure's head, otherwise fine.
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Painted in 1923, the present work is a wonderfully sumptuous example of one of Suzanne Valadon's major preoccupations as an artist. Once an artist's model herself, for painters as diverse as Puvis de Chavannes, Toulouse-Lautrec and Renoir, the subject of the female nude held a special resonance for Valadon. Whilst an accomplished depiction of a female nude affirms Valadon's place within the masculine world of painters, the artist's subject in the present work, whose name, Catherine, she asserts in the title, is subtly removed from her position as the object of male desire.

Valadon chooses not to paint her model from the traditional perspective of a nue allongée; Catherine's reclining body is seen not from the side, delineated by long undulating curves, but with the foreshortening effect of a raised perspective at her feet. Alternatively titled L'Endormie, the limbs of Valadon's model lack any of the tension inherent in a pose and her eyes are closed as though she is indeed asleep. This 'absence' of the traditional subject underlines the process of alienation of the body which characterises the 'work' of the model. Valadon, though, undeniably rejoices in the beauty of her subject's splendid curves, smoothly delineating them with bold, black brushstrokes. It is as though the lines which envelop the woman's body denote the limit of her subjectivity, separating her from the luxurious trappings of life which surround her. As Jean-Pierre Valeix notes, 'in the drawings and, later, the paintings of Suzanne Valadon, the brushstroke, the outlining of contours, the delimitation of a form, are all signs; the marks of a (re)appropriation  of the female body by a woman who has known, from her own experience as a model, the insistent and possessive masculine gaze.' (Jean-Pierre Valeix, 'Suzanne Valadon ou le corps "rebouté"', Valadon Utrillo, Paris, 2009, p. 31). In Catherine nue allongée sur une peau de panthère, Valadon's unique perspective establishes an intimate dialogue between the model observed and the model observing. Valadon exults in her artist subjectivity, relishing the wonderfully rich colors and exotic sensuous textures of the delicate flowers and plush panther hide with which she surrounds her model.