Henri Sizeler (1884-1944). Portrait Of A Young Man, 1904. Oil On Cardboard, Signed And Dated.

Among Henri Sizeler's works, the most striking are undoubtedly his portraits and self-portraits. Born in Toulon, the artist began exhibiting in Nantes in 1904 at the Exposition Internationale. He then attended the Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1911, but his training was interrupted by the First World War.

With a sure hand, the painter depicts prodigiously enigmatic faces, and our painting, done in 1904, has something to make us wonder. The boy in profile has a marvellous presence, with penetrating eyes and tidy hair, he is posing. A tension emerges. Henri Sizeler seems to want to portray a psychological expression.

Musée d'Arts de Nantes holds two works by the artist, the first a self-portrait dated 1902, the second a figure of a young man in a Symbolist vein dated 1904 (acquired in 2022).