"Henri Joseph THOMAS (1878 – 1972 ) Belgian school. "
The green shoes - 30s.
Oil on canvas signed at the top left.
Dimensions: 61 x 76 cm - with frame: 77 x 90 cm.
Original art deco frame.
This painting represents one of his favorite models.
The tone is flirtatious, pleasant at first glance, delicately cheeky and erotic at the second. The painter likes to wrap his lady in a cocoon of delicate fabrics. The satin and transparent tones echo the alabaster skin of the model. The study is inspired by the classic and neutral academic nude to bring it to the dawn of anecdote and narration. A lady, while she is getting dressed, leans over the bed to retrieve her indoor shoe. Her air is joyful, her face fresh and pink. The tone is like the Fragonards of the eighteenth century, it celebrates the joy of pleasures and the celebration of life.
A student of the Brussels Academy, he exhibited at the Artistic Circle in 1906, 1909 and 1921 and at the National Society of Fine Arts from 1906 to 1910. The artist exercises his profession between Brussels and Paris, in the extension of what previous colleagues, Odilon Redon, Felicien Rops, among others had undertaken: to open and prosper the axis between the two capitals. His career is long and his art recognized, he is collected in Europe by museums and private collectors.
In addition to his qualities as a painter and sculptor, he is known for his activity as an aquafortist. He illustrates "The Fleece of Phryne" written by Theodore Hannon (1913) and the 1925 reissue of Barbey d'Aurevilly's "Diaboliques". He paints the universe and the troubles of the bourgeois trapped in the nocturnal circus of Parisian and Montmartre nights. Subsequently, he depicted the worldly atmosphere of the interiors of the 20s. Women adorn themselves with jewelry and surround themselves with silky fabrics.
Museums: Brussels, Bruges, Liège, Barcelona.
Bibliography:Emmanuel Bénézit,Dictionary of painters, sculptors, draftsmen and engravers, t. X, Gründ Bookstore, ed. 1976, p. 15