Mixed media on paper. Featuring a nude sketch. Signed and attr. Marie Laurencin (French, 1883-1956) on the lower right corner. 9 x 6.3 in. (23 x 16 cm). Marie Laurencin’s signature paintings feature graceful, pale-skinned, dark-eyed young women with dreamy expressions, rendered in pastel hues. After briefly flirting with the tenets of Cubism early on, Laurencin shied away from the modern styles of her day, drawing influence from Persian miniatures and the Rococo instead. Nonetheless, she befriended and exhibited alongside Pablo Picasso, including him in a group portrait along with herself and their respective lovers Fernande Olivier and Guillaume Apollinaire (Group of Artists, 1908). The anonymous seated figures in Women with a Dog (1923) exemplify the lyricism and idealized feminine beauty with which she was known to portray society women. In 1923 Coco Chanel commissioned a portrait, but rejected Laurencin’s image of her languishing in a chair for lack of likeness. PROVENANCE: Southern Ontario estate

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By [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work is by the artist.

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American, 19th century : In our opinion, this work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

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