Lot 89: Charles Amable Lenoir (French, 1861-1940) Odalisque 54 1/2 x 32 3/4in (138.4 x 83.2cm)

Odalisque
signed 'C.A. Lenoir' (lower left)
oil on canvas
54 1/2 x 32 3/4in (138.4 x 83.2cm)

Born in 1860 to parents of moderate means in Châtellaillon, a small district located near La Rochelle, Charles Amable Lenoir did not immediately pursue an artistic education. He trained to become a teacher at the lycée in Rochefort, but after saving enough money he traveled to Paris in 1883. He arrived carrying a letter of recommendation from Eugène Bouguereau, who was his parish priest and the uncle of the great French Academic master, William Adolphe Bouguereau.

That same year, Lenoir entered the École des Beaux Arts and enrolled as a student of William Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. He made his debut at the Paris Salon of 1887 and he exhibited there regularly until his death in 1926.

Lenoir's inspiration derives directly from Bouguereau and the Academic tradition, which placed a premium on superb draughtsmanship, rich, saturated colors and smooth paint surfaces. Like his master, Lenoir concentrated on allegorical, mythological and religious subject matter. He favored images of beautiful girls sometimes set, as in the present painting, in exotic and mysterious places.