Etienne Mondineu

ETIENNE MONDINEU (Houeillès, France, 1872-1940).
"Female nude with her back turned", ca. 1910.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 55 x 40 cm; 71 x 62 x 5 cm (frame).

The work in bidding is framed within the symbolist current that, starting from literature, defined a fully metaphorical art, which sought to evoke hidden meanings through an elaborate rhetoric. Symbolists believed that art should aim to capture the most absolute truths, which could only be captured by indirect and ambiguous methods, hence the constant reference to symbol and metaphor. In the case of this canvas, the absolute center of the representation is its poetic content, captured through a nude woman posing with her back to the viewer. The young woman gathers her red hair in her left hand. A vaporous cloth covers her legs and blurs with the wooded background. In his production, Étienne Mondineu focuses on depicting scenes of rural life in Gascony and more specifically in the Landes (farm work, fairs and markets, forest trades and hunting scenes) that bear witness to life around Houeillès. However, he also painted other genres such as landscapes (Lot-et-Garonne, the Landes, the Pyrenees and the Basque coast), as well as intimate scenes, nudes and portraits.

A genre painter, Etienne Mondineu entered the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts in 1888, then the Paris School of Fine Arts in 1893, in the workshop of Albert Maignnan, under the tutelage of J. P. Laurens and Benjamin Constant. In 1897 he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français, where he received an honorable mention. He won several distinctions in 1900 and 1908, when he was awarded an out-of-competition prize. Although Mondineu's work is known for his large-scale paintings, most of which were acquired by the State, more intimate paintings appear in private collections.