Elisabeth Dujarric De La Rivière (1930-2005) Woman Doing Her Hair Périgord Dordogne

Elisabeth DUJARRIC de LA RIVIÈRE
(Jouy-en-Josas 1930 – Excideuil 2005)
Woman combing her hair (Petit lever series)
Oil on canvas
H. 25 cm; W. 25 cm

Provenance: Private collection, Périgord

Born in the heart of the Bièvre valley, a few kilometers from Versailles, Elisabeth Dujarric comes from two important families, whose origins lie elsewhere. She is the daughter of Marcelle Friedmann, whose parents have retained German ties, mainly in Berlin where Adolphe Friedmann is a prominent businessman. On her father's side, the Dujarric de la Rivière have been settled in Périgord for several centuries and their traces can be found in Agonac and Trélissac in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was in Saint Sulpice d'Excideuil in the north-east of the department that the family settled, at the famous Château de la Rivière which they would adorn with their name. Scholars, doctors, scientists, artists, the members of this family would bring a few additional letters of nobility to Périgord. Elisabeth's father, an eminent researcher, would be a member of the Academy of Medicine partly for his discoveries on the Spanish flu. The hospital in Périgueux still bears his name today. In this isolated Périgord residence in the countryside, Elisabeth Dujarric would create a studio where she would work in the summer, while she lived in Paris to get away from the harsh winters. In the capital, she would be a fervent protector of the city of artists called "La Ruche", well known to lovers of modern art since a few young people without means were able to create their works there, like Modigliani, Soutine, Léger, Laurencin, Zatkine, Dorignac and Chagall. After taking courses in Art History at the Sorbonne and studying at the Jullian and Grande Chaumière Academies, Elisabeth Dujarric received the prize at the Salon de la Jeune Peinture in 1957, held at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. This award was part of her first period of work, where she developed a style based on materials, broken perspectives, modified hues and focusing mainly on portraits and still lifes. In the 1960s, she changed her style, as evidenced by the exhibitions in Parisian galleries of the time, where the artist presented everyday subjects in light hues with atypical framing and compositions.

This small square format is part of the very large series called "Le petit lever", produced over several years, where the subjects all, or almost all, deal with morning intimacy. Naked bodies, showers, ablutions, etc. Here, it is a simple and easy subject. A woman combing her hair with a comb handle, her body cut off at the neck.

Framed in a black American box.