Woman Seated in a Chair (recto); Woman in a Chair, Seen from the Back (verso)

The nuanced drawing, Woman Seated in a Chair (recto); Woman in a Chair, Seen from the Back (verso), by Pierre Auguste Renoir French, 1841-1919, offers a crucial glimpse into the artist's intimate studio practice over his long career. The work, dated between 1873 and 1919, presents a study of the female figure, a subject central to Renoir's output. The recto side, Woman Seated in a Chair, is executed primarily in charcoal, supplemented by careful use of graphite. Renoir utilized professional drawing techniques, including stumping to achieve subtle shading and erasure to create bright highlights, adding palpable texture and volume to the figure on the ivory wove paper.

This dual-sided piece demonstrates Renoir’s technical range and his continual exploration of form. The verso, Woman in a Chair, Seen from the Back, simplifies the study, focusing purely on posture and structure using only graphite. While Renoir is internationally renowned for his vibrant Impressionist paintings, these graphic works on paper showcase his exceptional skill in draftsmanship, demonstrating an economy of line and an insightful understanding of human anatomy.

As a central figure in the Impressionist movement in France, Renoir’s sketches and preparatory works were essential to his development. The emphasis on domesticity and the unidealized figure aligns with the broader artistic currents of late 19th-century French culture. This important drawing, classified simply as a work on paper, underscores the importance of graphic arts alongside the master's better-known oil canvases. This piece resides in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As the artist passed over a century ago, prints and high-quality reproductions of many of Renoir’s works are now frequently available in the public domain.