Description
Suzanne Manet’s head turns down and to the right beneath a large hat in this portrait drawing. Light curved outlines establish her face, with much of the paper remaining open around it. Manet gives his wife a direct graphic presence, allowing the portrait’s intimacy to emerge through the limited arrangement of head, hat and surrounding space.
Dated 1880, the work uses brush and black wash over graphite on wove paper. The layered materials permit both an underlying structure and broader dark passages, giving the portrait a surface different from a finished oil painting. Suzanne is credited as sitter, not as a collaborator in making the drawing. The image’s interest lies in that meeting of a particular person and a fluid graphic medium, where a familiar human presence can remain substantial within the limited field of a sheet.
Read our guide to giclée prints, browse more Édouard Manet prints, or explore Berthe Morisot with a Muff.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.