Portrait of a Woman

Charcoal on paper, ca.1890-1900

Stamped signature lower right Eugène Carrière

Size

295 x 222 m

Provenance

The artist’s heirs

Exhibition

Drawings by Eugène Carrière are rare on the market. They illustrate an even more intimate aspect of his work, and demonstrate his talent to create powerful, while extremely simplified composition, focused towards the feminine silhouette and presence. Furthermore, these three sheets come directly from the family of the artist which kept them until today.

Carrière is well-known for his representation of Maternité, inspired by his wife and family. Madame Carrière was usually portrayed holding, embracing, admiring her new-born or her young children. Always in his typical monochrome painting, Carrière had a talent of capturing the emotion of these affectionate scenes. These charcoal drawings show the first step of his creative process. How each figure incarnate an unique energy and emotion, from Melancholia to maternal love.

Reference

This drawing can be connected to the painting : Tête de femme (Mme Carrière ?), ca. 1899-1902 in Rodolphe Rapetti (dir.), Eugène Carrière, 1849 – 1906, catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint, Paris, 2008, no. 940 (ill.)