Girl in Plumed Hat (Mlle Antoinette)

A young woman, likely the artist's model Antoinette Arnoud, gazes out from beneath a dramatic plumed hat in this captivating drawing. Her face is rendered with a delicate touch, contrasting with the more assertive lines defining her hat and shoulders. This work, executed in pen and black ink, showcases the artist’s fluid draughtsmanship and his ability to capture a sitter's presence with minimal yet expressive lines. Created in 1919, it reflects a period when the artist, having relocated to Nice, embraced a more relaxed style, moving away from the intense colorism and flattened forms of his earlier Fauvist years. Here, the focus is purely on form and contour, allowing the viewer to appreciate the subtle interplay of light and shadow suggested by the ink strokes. The drawing was acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1927, just a few years after its creation.