Szymon Mondzain (1888 Chelm - 1979 Paris), During a reading (reclining act)

oil, canvas, 60 × 73.5 cm
Signed l. d.: "Mondzain"

Exhibited:
1999 - Montparnasse l'Europe des artistes 1915-1945, 10.07-10.10.1999, Museo Archeologico Regionale, Aosta (Italy).

Reproduced:
Montparnasse, l'Europe des artistes 1915-1945, Aosta 1999, p. 94 [exhibition catalogue].

Simon Mondzain's artistic oeuvre encompasses a wide range of painting genres, from landscapes to portraits, still lifes to nudes, which constitute an interesting group of works. The common denominator of these representations is the frequent posing of models with their backs toward the viewer, the exposure of the lines of their backs and the use of patterned fabric as a background for rearrangement (e.g. Nu allongé de dos, oil, canvas, 46 × 55.5 cm, signed p. d.; Alina, circa 1959, oil, canvas, 73 × 54 cm). The painting presented in the catalog, While Reading, continues the iconographic depiction of the nude female body in an intriguing and mystery-tempting pose, eagerly undertaken by many artists (Pierre Renoir, Władysław Ślewiński, Józef Pankiewicz). The nude offered at auction is also, in a way, the artist's artistic reference and response to Velazquez's Venus with a Mirror and Ingres' The Great Odalisque. In the painter's oeuvre we can find another nude with analogous dimensions and posed silhouette of the model, and even similar physiognomy (short-cut hair) - Nu, 1958, oil, canvas, 60 × 73 cm, signed and dated l. d., collection of Ursula and Piotr Hofmanow. This allows us to assume that the painting may have been created in a similar period.
"In her "nudes" she conquers us with the charm of a young healthy body with a sumptuous complexion, without the conventional caramel or pasty tones of pink and or white. P. Sh. Mondszajn becomes a realist in the best sense of the word. He relies on nature, but takes from it only the most valuable elements, transposing them into painterly qualities, melted in the fire of
of his own artistic individuality."
E. Voroniecki, Mystic and Realist (Because of Sh. Mondszajn's exhibition at Barbazanges), "World" 1936, No. 34, p. 4

"The painter seems to have learned nature in depth. He finds in it a strong foothold, a source of balance, a constant law of harmony, a framework into which he can freely insert his artistic concept. The line itself becomes more concrete. (...) Mondzain is a colorist who
uses colors that are consistent with reality. He is also a draughtsman who never resorts to stylization, he approaches the model without a preconceived notion, copies the model's appearance faithfully, emphasizes the essential feature of the model, and only in the course of his work makes minor adjustments to the contour, which follows the muscle line and emphasizes the physique."
W. George, Simon Mondzain, "L'Amour de l'Art" 1923, no. 9, pp. 688-690