Profile of a Young Woman 1885

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer created this haunting portrait with pastel on paper. It's a traditional medium, but notice how he uses it unconventionally. Rather than crisp lines, he opts for a hazy, dreamlike effect. Pastel is essentially pure pigment, bound into sticks. This allows for rich color and a velvety texture. But here, the artist seems less interested in color than in the way light plays across the surface. He uses broad, sweeping strokes to create a sense of depth and shadow, almost like a photograph. The sitter's features are soft and indistinct, as if she's emerging from a mist. This ethereal quality is enhanced by the artist’s technique. It is a labor-intensive medium, requiring the artist to build up layers of pigment, blending and smudging to achieve the desired effect. This painstaking process imbues the work with a sense of stillness and contemplation. Ultimately, this portrait reminds us that the way an artwork is made is just as important as what it depicts. By embracing the tactile qualities of pastel, Lévy-Dhurmer elevates a simple portrait to a work of haunting beauty.