.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Czanne was preoccupied by portraiture throughout his career and his wife, Hortense, was his most frequent sitter. He depicted Hortense more frequently in the 1880s than at any other time. In this relatively early portrait of Hortense he is already beginning to concentrate on form and imposes a certain geometry on his wife's physiognomy which is less evident in his tender drawings of the same period (fig. 2).
The present work, executed circa 1883, dates from the period in which Czanne was emerging form his so-called 'constructive' phase, with its woven network of parallel brushstrokes, and was entering his 'classical' phase which was to culminate in the celebrated series of portraits of Mme. Czanne executed between 1888 and 1890 (see fig. 1).
The present work, executed circa 1883, dates from the period in which Czanne was emerging form his so-called 'constructive' phase, with its woven network of parallel brushstrokes, and was entering his 'classical' phase which was to culminate in the celebrated series of portraits of Mme. Czanne executed between 1888 and 1890 (see fig. 1).