Artwork Page for Seated Peasant Woman

Details / Information for Seated Peasant Woman

Seated Peasant Woman

c. 1885

Léon Augustin Lhermitte

(French, 1844–1925)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
charcoal
Support
Off-white laid paper
Measurements
Overall: 49.2 x 40 cm (19 3/8 x 15 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.375
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Lhermitte's work portrays simple peasants working in harmony with a bountiful natural environment without reference to industrial development, mechanization of farm work, and the depopulation of the countryside. His sturdy images of Champagne's rural life have a sober, unsentimental character in which the peasant figures are neither tidied nor prettified. The artist achieved his most personal expression in his charcoal drawings which first achieved critical success in London where they were exhibited from the early 1870s. By the 1880s, his drawings had gained wide popularity in France.
A vertically oriented charcoal drawing on off-white paper depicts a seated woman looking toward our left. Visible hatching and loose strokes define her short-sleeved bodice and full skirt. Her right arm rests on a rounded form, while her left lies in her lap. Light from the upper right casts deep shadows across her face and neck. A signature, "L. Lhermitte," is written in the lower left corner.

Seated Peasant Woman

c. 1885

Léon Augustin Lhermitte

(French, 1844–1925)
France, 19th century

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