JEAN GABRIEL DOMERGUE (1899-1962) Danseuse au bal masqué

signed and dated ‘Jean Gabriel Domergue 1920’ (lower left) gouache, charcoal and watercolour on paper 54.5 x 38.5 cm (à vue) executed in 1920 Jean-Gabriel Domergue, born in Bordeaux, demonstrated exceptional precocity, exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français at the age of seventeen and receiving a gold medal there in 1920. During the vibrant years of the Roaring Twenties he became renowned for his elegant depictions of the modern Parisienne and the world of fashionable society. The present work perfectly reflects Domergue’s characteristic style: the dancer’s elongated silhouette, stylised facial features, and the decorative costume rendered in gouache are animated by a refined charcoal line. The elegant composition and its mondain subject are fully consistent with the artist’s depictions of dancers and fashionable women from the early 1920s, capturing the theatrical glamour and spirit of the era.