Ernest Laurent (1959-1929) Attributed To, Study Of A Woman Seen In Profile, Large Red Chalk

Ernest LAURENT
Gentilly 1859 - Bièvres 1929

Study of a woman seen in profile
Circa 1900-1920
Sanguine
54 x 39 cm sheet
80 x 63 cm framed
Very good condition
Beautiful old flat frame in natural wood

This magnificent sanguine is entirely characteristic of the style and graphic technique of Ernest Laurent, inherited from the neo-impressionist tradition. The use of free and irregular hatching allows for a rendering that is both synthetic and allusive. The artist finely renders the model's complexion through subtle contrast work in sanguine. His graphic style also evokes the art of Henri Martin, an artist of whom he was a close friend.
Ernest Joseph Laurent, born in Gentilly on June 8, 1859 and died in Bièvres on June 25, 1929, was a French painter and lithographer. A student of Henri Lehmann at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Ernest Laurent was strongly influenced by the Impressionists and became friends with Georges Seurat, Edmond Aman-Jean, and Henri Le Sidaner. This encounter with the founder of Neo-Impressionism would have a lasting impact on his painting and drawing style, some of whose characteristics he would adopt. In 1885, his Annunciation, exhibited at the Salon, was purchased by the French government, allowing him to travel to Italy. From Rome, he went to Assisi, where he had a profound mystical experience that would have a lasting influence on his art. In 1919, he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and was also a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts until 1929. Heir to both Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist techniques, his work is tinged with symbolism linked to his deep religious devotion. This aspect of his life would go against the materialism of Seurat, from whom he would gradually distance himself. Although he mainly painted female portraits, which would be among his favorite themes, Laurent would also be the author of remarkable lithographs, which took on a melted appearance, and which would be published, among others, in L'Estampe moderne in 1897 and the Gazette des beaux-arts in 1901.