Charlotte van Pallandt - Reclining Nude, 1925

Charlotte van Pallandt (1898-1997)

Reclining Nude

1925

Pencil on paper

9 x 12 cm

Framed

Provenance:

Private collection, The Hague.

Condition:

In very good condition.

Information:

The sculptor Charlotte van Pallandt (1898-1997) began her artistic career in Paris, where she studied with the Cubist master André Lhote in the 1920s. This small but powerful work, Reclining Nude (1925), shows the influence of her early years of study in the French capital. Executed in pencil, the drawing depicts a reclining female nude in geometric planes, with the contours of the body reduced to a Cubist visual scheme.

Although Van Pallandt later became best known for her sculptures, this early work offers a fascinating insight into her search for form and space. The Cubist approach, which reduces anatomical forms to angular, stylised lines, laid a foundation for her later explorations in sculpture. Two years after making this drawing, Van Pallandt began experimenting with sculpture, in which Cubist influences would remain subtly present.

The restrained monumentality of Reclining Nude shows the early impact of the Parisian avant-garde on Van Pallandt’s work, a crucial phase that set her firmly on the artistic path and would lead to an international career as a sculptor.