Charles Henrida

'Three Young Beauties', Art Nouveau, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Musée Bordeaux

Circa 1900

Signed upper right, 'Anne Jenkins' (American, 1923-2023) and dated 1958. An elegant and psychologically penetrating study of a young boy, shown seated and holding a white cat. Born...

Signed lower left, 'Marguerite Bordet' (French, 1909-2014) and painted circa 1940. Additionally signed, verso, titled, 'La Vanite' and inscribed with artist's Paris address in the 16th arrondissement. From an early age, Marguerite Bordet avidly pursued both drawing and painting. In the late 1930's and early '40s, she attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris where she studied with the sculptor, Antoniucci Volti (Italian, 1915-1989). After several years, and feeling increasingly disconnected with the academic atmosphere of the Salon, she left to develop her independent artistic style. Bordet's first public exhibition took place at the Galerie Claude (1947) and, for the next forty years, she continued to exhibit widely with success, both throughout France and internationally, including in Cairo (1955), Geneva (1960) and the United States (1966). A 1962 exhibition of her work showed a thematic rejection of the Academy's influence and the artist's shift to a more personal and spiritually driven style. Bordet continued to take frequent study trips to Italy, especially to Florence, where she was inspired by the Renaissance Masters. She also visited England (1975-76) where the works of J.M.W.Turner and John Martin at the Tate Museum had a pronounced impact on her development. In an interview with Hervé Serane, Marguerite Bordet described her artistic process in these words: "I start my painting with spots. Sometimes I cover it completely and everything is dark. But then it's stronger than me, I can't bear that there isn't an opening. Immediately, I place a Light. I need the shadow to bring out the Light. So I start with the shadow to create this Light. I cannot define why I need this Light so much. It's stronger than me. It's something that dominates me without my being able to explain it intellectually. It is for me an absolute necessity to seek the Light in the darkness.. You have to open like you open a window. You have to reveal. I remove the stains that obscure my painting to find the luminous background of the canvas.... I only paint with transparent colors and I apply several layers of glaze to preserve this light." Partial Exhibition Record: 1947 Paris, Galerie Claude 1951 Paris, Galerie Breteau - Cairo, Galerie Adam - Alexandria, l'Atelier 1954 Paris, Galerie Simone Bdinier 1955 Cairo, l'Atelier 1959 Paris, Galerie A. Weil 1960 Geneva, Galerie Motte 1962 Paris, Marignan Gallery 1964 Paris, Ror Volmar Gallery 1966 San Rafael (U.SA) International Museum 1966 Cagnes-sur-Mer, Castle Gallery...

Mother Goose is a French fairy tale and later of English nursery rhyme. In this illustration, we see an oversized Goose in a yellow bonnet elevated on a step and engaging with an attentively curious young girl and young boy. Large vases of flowers frame them. Titled in pencil center bottom: "Goosey, Goosey Gander. Where do you wander? Signed Margaret Evans Price...

This series was inspired by a 1950’s era instruction manual found while clearing out my father’s basement workshop. The How To Light A Model manual employed voluptuous female models to teach lighting techniques to amateur photographers such as my father. Diagrams plot the prescribed direction of the lights. The nude women hold the pose, their lips bright red and their feet dirty from the studio floor. As naked props for the authoritarian photographer, their vulnerability seems palpable. This work visualizes the human condition as a balance between feral and fabricated worlds. Vivid, oversized creatures embody instinctual energy. Wax seals, gold spheres and text-like marks signify rational structures. One speaks in a whisper, the other in a hiss. Winifred McNeill...