Lot 198 D

The Polish-French painter Mela Muter was a superb portraitist. In addition to works commissioned by France’s celebrities, including Georges Clemenceau, Romain Rolland, Diego Rivera and Ambroise Vollard, Muter also created numerous images depicting members of the simple, rural populace. With dark outlines, a muted palette and visible brushwork, she succeeded in reflecting the character of her sitters: “That is why I had to project myself into my model”, she writes, “Make contact with them. I had to fully grasp them and then paint them. […] I had a vision of how the picture needed to look, and I preserved this idea until the portrait was complete” (cited in Mela Muter, exh. cat. Köln 1967, p. 14).
In the 1920s Muter’s work was regularly presented at the exhibitions of the Salon d’Automne as well as the Salon des Indépendants and she experienced her first commercial successes. The portrait here, “Sitzende im rosafarbenen Kleid” was probably created during this period or shortly thereafter. Muter has captured the young woman seated on a simple chair inside an interior featuring a stone floor and a window. She is wearing a plain pink dress, whose colour corresponds to that of the flower as well as the terracotta tiles. The focus is on the depiction of the head, with its curly brown hair and fine facial features. The young woman gazes alertly out of the picture and to the left. Because of the vigorous, post-impressionist brushwork and the warm palette, she generates a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere. The man with a straw hat and khaki-coloured shirt portrayed on the reverse side is shown before a scene featuring a bridge in the south of France.