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Lot Essay
Imbued with a sense of introspection characteristic of Lebasque's sensitive portrayals of his family's peaceful domesticity, Jeune femme devant la fenêtre perfectly captures the tranquil atmosphere of a hot summer's day in the South of France. Lebasque first visited the Midi at the suggestion of Henri Manguin, renting a house in the summer of 1906 and working together with Signac, Luce, Matisse and Manguin. Recalling her father's contentment his eldest daughter Marthe later said: 'They painted these marvellous landscapes, and they sought each other out to tell of the places that they discovered. A great sweetness of life reigned there... He had a happy disposition, he was content in the midst of his family. He was happy about painting... He adored us forming a happy image. He felt that very strongly, and conveyed that image with such strength in his paintings' (quoted in exh. cat. Lebasque 1865-1937, San Francisco, 1986, p. 113).
Jeune femme devant la fenêtre most probably depicts Lebasque's second daughter Nono (b. 1900), who often used to pose for her father, particularly in the 1920s. Gazing lazily at the sunlit boats in the harbour, Nono is framed by the opening of the window, a pictorial conceit often employed by Lebasque, not only to define space and create unity within the planes of the painting, but also to create contrasts of light and atmosphere between the interior and the exterior.
'Intimism, a term which best describes Lebasque's painting, refers to the close domestic subject matter, supremely realized by Bonnard and Vuillard, in such manner as to convey the personal nature of his response to the thing painted, and the universal familiarity of home and family. There is a sense of calm infused in Lebasque's paintings which celebrates the fullness and richness of life. In his placid scenes of gardens and beaches, terraces and dinner tables, Lebasque portrays his family in particular, but in such a way that he appeals to a larger sense of family gathering and devotion' (ibid., p. 12).
Jeune femme devant la fenêtre most probably depicts Lebasque's second daughter Nono (b. 1900), who often used to pose for her father, particularly in the 1920s. Gazing lazily at the sunlit boats in the harbour, Nono is framed by the opening of the window, a pictorial conceit often employed by Lebasque, not only to define space and create unity within the planes of the painting, but also to create contrasts of light and atmosphere between the interior and the exterior.
'Intimism, a term which best describes Lebasque's painting, refers to the close domestic subject matter, supremely realized by Bonnard and Vuillard, in such manner as to convey the personal nature of his response to the thing painted, and the universal familiarity of home and family. There is a sense of calm infused in Lebasque's paintings which celebrates the fullness and richness of life. In his placid scenes of gardens and beaches, terraces and dinner tables, Lebasque portrays his family in particular, but in such a way that he appeals to a larger sense of family gathering and devotion' (ibid., p. 12).