Description
Schuffenecker’s Studio – a painting dedicated to the man standing at its edge
The scene takes place in a studio with a large window wall divided into many panes; through it a pale outline of the city can be seen. At the far left stands a male figure in a dark suit, hands clasped, wedged between the easel and the window frame. To his right sits a woman in a strong orange dress who fills almost the whole centre of the canvas; a girl in blue and red stands at her knee, and a smaller child in red crouches at the lower left. At the upper right coloured prints are pinned to the wall, and at the lower right stands a large earthenware jar. The work is held by the Musee d’Orsay in Paris under the inventory number RF 1959 8. The museum record gives the measurement as height by width: 73 x 92 cm, a landscape format.
The dedication along the lower edge
Along the bottom edge of the canvas a dedication is written in blue. The name Schuffenecker and the year 1889 are legible; we do not transcribe the full wording here word for word, because from the painting alone we cannot read every single mark with confidence. The museum record lists among the inscriptions a date, a monogram and an original dedication, which agrees with what we can see. The picture is therefore not merely a scene in a studio but a work addressed to a particular person.
The person addressed stands at the edge
That is exactly what makes the arrangement so unusual. The man to whom the picture is dedicated, and after whom it is named, is not at the centre: he stands at the far left margin, narrow and motionless, hands clasped, between the easel and the window frame. The centre belongs to the woman in orange, the largest and lightest shape on the canvas. The person addressed is named and pushed aside at the same time.
The window that holds the scene together
Behind the figures stretches the grid of window panes. Its vertical and horizontal parts run across the whole upper half of the picture and give the scene a firm frame; without them the warm orange and the cool blue-grey would run into one another. The coloured prints on the right-hand wall are the only places where that quiet grid is broken.
How a hand-painted reproduction is made
Every reproduction here is hand-painted in oil on canvas, stroke by stroke. In this motif the orange dress is the hardest part: it has to carry the centre of the picture and at the same time not swallow the faces around it. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval.
- Subject: a family in the studio before a large window wall, a male figure at the far left margin.
- Technique: oil on canvas, a warm orange centre and a cool blue-grey ground.
- Sizes: landscape format, from 40 x 32 cm to 200 x 160 cm; 80 x 64 cm and 100 x 80 cm are often chosen.
- Of note: the dedication along the lower edge names the man who stands furthest to one side in the picture.
If the same period interests you, see also Breton Peasant Women, Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven and The Green Christ.
