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the constant reader

#more than ideas #so many fragile things #colorful silence #sunday reading #the constant reader #reading #the reader #bookworm

Lucie Esnault Reading a Book (also known as Reading Woman and The Reader) (c. 1900-1905) by Jacques-Émile Blanche (French, 1861 – 1942), oil on canvas, 98 x 70.5 cm (38 1/2 x 27 3/4 in), Private Collection

#Lucie Esnault Reading a Book #Reading Woman #The Reader #Jacques-Émile Blanche #painting #my upload #an intimate portrait of a woman absorbed in reading. The painting depicts Lucie Esnault the daughter of a local locksmith in Auteuil #who served as a regular model for Blanche from her childhood #Intimacy and Intellectualism: The painting represents a quiet private moment of intellectual engagement #emphasizing the model's absorption in a book rather than her social status #A Familiar Model: Unlike his commissioned high-society portraits painting Lucie Esnault allowed Blanche the freedom to explore #composition and personality documenting her development from a young girl (beginning in 1889) into adulthood #Mirror Reflection: A key element in some versions of this painting is the use of a mirror which reflects Lucie #while also showing a small reflection of Blanche himself painting her adding a haunting layer of artist-subject interaction #Interior Portraiture: The work serves as a portrait of an interior space likely the artist's own salon #conveying a sense of relaxed comfort comfort and quietude #Artistic Influence: The painting reveals Blanche’s admiration for Édouard Manet and James Whistler #characterized by loose brushwork and a focus on texture such as the white muslin dress #Belle Époque #Subject: Lucie Esnault a working-class woman who often modeled for the artist #Other Versions: Blanche painted several versions of Lucie reading including some in which she is seated in a salon #sometimes seen from the side wearing a white dress

#skeleton #black and white #tarot #the reader

From our stacks: "Odilon Redon. The Reader. Lithograph." From The Etchings of the French Impressionists and Their Contemporaries By Edward T. Chase. Paris: The Hyperion Press, 1946.