Woman sitting in a red coat
Despite his premature death at the age of thirty-eight, Walter Sauer had a profound impact on the Belgian and then the international art scene in the first part of the 20th century. The Brussels-born artist studied under Constant Montald (1862-1944), and was attracted to painting large-scale decors at an early age. In the years 1905-1910, Walter Sauer was still in the infancy of his true artistic personality, but his technique impressed and he accumulated first prizes, particularly in decorative composition.
1911 was the year of travel and discovery for him, he travelled through France and Provence, then to Italy. He became friends with the sculptor Victor Rousseau (1865-1954) who had a profound influence on the young Sauer, and introduced him to oriental art in particular. Because of his fragile constitution, Walter Sauer had to give up decorative painting to devote himself exclusively to drawing. It is easy to imagine that Victor Rousseau’s exchanges with Sauer were not unrelated to the new way in which the draughtsman developed in the 1920s. Indeed, Sauer developed a new mode of expression. In the backgrounds of his drawings he applied metallic leaves, usually gold or silver, which created a strong contrast with the main figure, usually a woman, a fundamental theme in his work. He further accentuates the contrast by waxing the paper left in reserve with beeswax to give the skin of his figures an ivory-like hue. In this way, the women that Walter Sauer brings to life in his drawings stand out from their support and capture the viewer with the truth of the feeling that is instilled in them, sometimes contemplative, sometimes mischievous, sometimes cruel (fig.1).
Our drawing is a wonderful example of this unique technique. This background, sculpted, patinated, broken, almost living background contrasts marvelously with the artist’s acuity, the precision of his line and the magnificent variations in the model’s complexion, whose mischievous look and smile contribute to making this drawing one of the most striking in Walter Sauer’s work.
