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Mathilde Maujan van Donghen
Portrait of a Woman with a Cigarette, circa 1910, pastel on paper
circa 1910

About the Item

Mathilde MAUJAN VAN DONGHEN (1868-1960) Portrait of a Woman with a Cigarette, circa 1910 Pastel on paper Signed "M. van Donghen" lower right 52 x 43 cm Sold in its original frame Born Mathilde Céline van Donghen in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1868, the artist married politician Adolphe Maujan (1853-1914) in 1898 (former deputy and senator for the Seine, under-secretary of state and founder of the newspaper La France Libre). Mathilde Maujan van Donghen studied painting with Benjamin-Constant (1845-1902), Jules Lefebvre (1936-1911) and Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921). She exhibited for the first time in 1894 at the 41st exhibition of the Société des amis des artistes de Seine et Oise in Versailles. In 1898, she became a member of the Société populaire des beaux-arts. Her work, particularly her portraits, was praised by art critic Louis Vauxcelles in a review of the 1908 Salon des Artistes Français published in Gil Blas: "La Grand'mère de Mathilde Maujan van Donghen is a very small painting with an exquisite sense of quietude and a broad, frank execution, despite its cramped dimensions. The movement of the hand pulling the needle is elegantly just right, the gaze of the grandmother expressive and gentle. The air fills this lovely canvas with a delicately soothed harmony." This pastel portrait of a woman is part of the iconography of the smoker introduced into Dutch genre painting in the 17th century, following the importation of tobacco into Europe from the New World. The figure of the smoking woman is also present in nineteenth-century Orientalist painting, which features smoky female nudes. In the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, the cigarette acquired the status of an object of modernity, popularized by figures such as Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923). In the 1900s, the women of French and American high society who embodied the "new woman" adopted the cigarette. They wore them with elegance and boldness, sometimes in cigarette holders, sometimes in their mouths, as shown by portraits in vogue during the Belle Époque, such as those by Paul-César Helleu (1859-1927). After the war, cigarettes became a symbol of female emancipation, popularized by advertising imagery. Mathilde Maujan van Donghen's model is wearing a blouse with puffed sleeves typical of the 1900-1910 period. She looks at the viewer in an impertinent, even provocative attitude, her face smoked by the cigarette nonchalantly held to her mouth.

Creator:

Mathilde Maujan van Donghen (1868 - 1960, French)

Creation Year:

circa 1910

Dimensions:

Height: 20.48 in (52 cm)Width: 16.93 in (43 cm)

Medium:

Pastel

Period:

Early 20th Century

Condition:

Very good condition of the work. The original frame has minor signs of wear.