Pastel Under Glass Signed Van Caulaert

Portrait of an elegant woman, or "the lady in blue". Signed J. Van Caulaert (1897-1979), dated in Roman characters “XXV” (for 1925) France or Belgium In a stepped gilded frame, On a diapré background, a woman in a sparkling blue dress pulls her stole aside. Social portrait par excellence, our painting is part of the pictorial currents of the immediate post-war period, when artists renounce the classic images inherited from both Rigaud and David. Here, the pose and the clothing respond to the treatment. The background, without distinction or reality, is not neutral, but composes like an “aura” all around the subject. The light, studied by the Impressionists, is only used there as an annex to enchant the whole. Pastel, this bold chalk handled by masters like Perronneau or La Tour, allows to escape the precise and clear line, in favor of a mist where the colors blend together, helping to reinforce the marvelousness of the work. If the whole is somewhat reminiscent of Van Dongen's, moreover later, it does not have its somewhat perverse preciousness, but displays a serene strength. Of Belgian origin, Jean-Dominique van Caulaert works with variety artists, in this musical bustle of the 1920s: he is the illustrator, sometimes the poster artist of the stars of the time (Mistinguett, Joséphine Baker, Tino Rossi…), but continues to paint his portraits of the society of his time. The elegant one represented wears a simple plain lamé dress which frees the ankles, and suggests the curve of her leg, in a harmony of blue. She wears a "boyish" hair and wears only a pair of earrings and an impressive ring, which enhance the azure of the composition with their brilliance. This is moving, in an imbalance that follows the “blur” of the drawing, as if the artist were presenting an action to us in a universe that is itself uncertain. Only the figure of the model, borrowing from a certain nostalgia, remains impassive, almost hieratic, and indifferent to these shifts. The painter focused on this marked face of a mature woman, who tells us that despite everything, Time has not taken hold of her, even if everything is moving around, and that she accepts it. the ultimately superficial side. Both outside and in Time ...