Einar Nerman - A Parisian Model, 1909

Einar Nerman (1888–1983) Sweden

En Parisermodell (A Parisian Model), 1909

signed and dated lower right Einar Nerman 09
oil on canvas laid down on panel
unframed 63 × 41 cm (24.8 × 16.1 in)
framed 72 × 50.5 cm (28.3 × 19.9 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Sweden.

Possibly Exhibited:
Stockholm, Salong Joël, Einar Nermans utställning, 1913, possibly no. 6, En Parisermodell.

Condition Report:
The painting is in fine condition with clear, well preserved colours and age related wear consistent with its period. Presented in a newly made frame, included with the work.

Essay:
Painted in 1909, A Parisian Model belongs to one of the most important and formative periods in Einar Nerman’s career. The year coincides with his studies in Paris, first at the Académie Colarossi and subsequently under Henri Matisse. Although the painting bears no recorded place name, its date and subject make a Paris execution highly probable.

The model is shown standing beside a tall studio chair, her body turned in profile while her face is lowered towards the viewer. Her weight appears to shift naturally through the body, giving the figure both tension and grace.

The dark form above her head appears most plausibly to be her hair gathered into a large, fashionable coiffure rather than a separate hat. A soft wrap or ribbon may possibly be incorporated into the arrangement. Its sculptural volume provides a strong counterpoint to the pale body and helps frame the shadowed face.

Nerman had studied at Konstnärsförbundets school in Stockholm between 1905 and 1908. When the school closed, he travelled to Paris in late 1908 and enrolled at the Académie Colarossi before joining the circle around Matisse during 1909 and 1910. At the same time, he belonged to De unga, the group whose Stockholm exhibitions became closely associated with the breakthrough of modernism in Swedish art.

The date 1909 is significant. Nerman was only twenty one years old and working in direct contact with the Parisian artistic environment that transformed the use of colour and form among a generation of Scandinavian painters. The present work does not imitate Matisse’s most radical colour experiments, but its simplified setting, clearly defined figure and independence from academic finish reflect the new artistic possibilities that Nerman encountered in Paris.

Nerman would later become internationally celebrated for his elegant drawings, theatrical caricatures and portraits of performers. During the 1920s he worked in London for The Tatler, and his linear economy eventually culminated in images of extraordinary clarity, including the famous Solstickan figure. The present painting predates that public career and reveals the young Nerman primarily as a painter, still exploring the human figure through colour and direct studio observation. Nationalmuseum documents his studies at Konstnärsförbundets school, the Académie Colarossi and under Matisse, as well as his membership in De unga.

A Parisian Model is an unusual and important example of Nerman’s early oil painting. It belongs to the moment before his reputation became dominated by illustration and caricature and offers a direct connection to his Paris years, his studies in the Matisse circle and the emergence of Swedish modernism.