Portrait of a Woman in Black

By the mid-1920s Bernard was in steady demand in Paris as a portrait painter, working on commission for sitters who wanted a likeness in a frankly traditional manner. This head was never one of those commissions. It is painted on cardboard, it was left unfinished, and the same woman sat for him several times, which is why the museum treats it as a study. Everything is concentrated on the shape and the proportions of the face, and the catalogue suggests he was after an idea of beauty more than the features of one particular person. The picture carries his initials at the upper right, a full signature at the lower right, and the stamp of his studio at the lower left.