Lot 253 Dα

'Femme de dos, se déshabillant' by Carrière is a small nude seen from the back, quite erotic and developed from the semi-darkness of a monochrome 'sfumato'. It clearly illustrates the close relationship that existed between Carrière and Auguste Rodin. Around 1890, the sculptor had dedicated a marble sculpture - 'Idole Éternelle' - to the painter, while the painter had designed a poster for the sculptor's famous solo exhibition at the Pavilion on Place d'Alma in 1900. These are two striking examples of the lifelong friendship between the two men, a relationship that also bespoke their artistic kinship as contemporaries. Carrière's aesthetic approach clearly captured the mood of the Symbolist generation, and he was claimed as one of theirs by critics of the avant-garde, writers, poets and artists alike. Whereas it is said that his style may have influenced Munch and the early Picasso, we should also mention the American photographer Edward Steichen who succumbed to the charm of Carrière's paintings and confessed in 1901:

“Carrière, one of the greatest of modern French painters, keeps all his pictures in a low brownish key, using no pure whites or darks; and blending his tones, he secures an exquisite feeling of atmosphere and shrouds that in a lovely sentiment.” (from 'Photogram', quoted by: Robert James Bantens, Eugène Carrière, The Symbol of Creation, New York 1990, p. 44)