Alexis MERODACK-JEANEAU (Angers, 1873 - 1919) The woman with the owl Charcoal and etching Signed and dated 'Mérodack jeaneau / 98' upper right Woman with an owl, charcoal and stamp, signed and dated, by A. Merodack-Jeaneau 10.23 x 9.65 in. 26.0 x 24.5 cm Provenance: Anonymous sale; Paris, Me Guy Loudmer, 11 April 1975, no. 123 ; Acquired at this sale by Gérard Lévy; Gérard Lévy Collection; Then by descent Exhibitions: L'œuvre Picturale de Merodack-Jeaneau, Galerie La Bodinière, Paris, s. d. [1899] Bibliography : Boissier, Emile, L'œuvre Picturale de Merodack-Jeaneau, Edition de la Revue des Beaux-Arts et des Lettres, s. d. [1899], reproduced on p. 14 "Woman with an Owl offers us, in a more restricted setting, a vision no less intense. The melancholy face is lulled by a vague dream. The eyes reflect a naive soul contemplating some distant vision, while the bird of misfortune falsely brushes against the woman and incites her to perverse lust<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[1]</i></strong></a>." It was in these eloquent terms that the writer and poet Emile Boissier described our sheet in his preface to the catalogue of the Mérodack-Jeaneau exhibition at the Galerie La Bodinière in 1899. A pupil of Gustave Moreau and a friend of Matisse, Manguin, Marquet and Lautrec, Mérodack Jeaneau played a central role in the artistic life of his time. A member of the Salon des Indépendants in 1896, he adopted the Rosicrucian pseudonym of Mérodack, which he borrowed from a hero of Joséphin Péladan, mixing his realistic works with others more imbued with symbolism. Our striking drawing relates to this early period, which saw the artist develop a prolific illustrative activity, notably for magazines such as Les Partisans and the Revue Verlainienne, and for Hans Ryner's novel L'Homme-fourmi in 1901. <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Boissier, Emile, L'œuvre Picturale de Merodack-Jeaneau, Edition de la Revue des Beaux-Arts et des Lettres, s. d. [1899]. Alexis MERODACK-JEANEAU (Angers, 1873 - 1919) 26.0 x 24.5 cm "The Woman with an Owl offers us, in a more restricted setting, a vision that is no less intense. The melancholy face is lulled by a vague dream. The eyes reflect a naive soul contemplating some distant vision, while the bird of misfortune falsely brushes against the woman and incites her to perverse lust<a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[1]</em></strong></a>." It was in these eloquent terms that the writer and poet Emile Boissier described our sheet in his preface to the catalogue of the Mérodack-Jeaneau exhibition at the Galerie La Bodinière in 1899. A pupil of Gustave Moreau and a friend of Matisse, Manguin, Marquet and Lautrec, Mérodack Jeaneau played a central role in the artistic life of his time. A member of the Salon des Indépendants in 1896, he adopted the Rosicrucian pseudonym of Mérodack, which he borrowed from a hero of Joséphin Péladan, mixing his realistic works with others more imbued with symbolism. Our striking drawing relates to this early period, which saw the artist develop a prolific illustrative activity, notably for magazines such as Les Partisans and the Revue Verlainienne, and for Hans Ryner's novel L'Homme-fourmi in 1901. <a href="about:blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Boissier, Emile, L'œuvre Picturale de Merodack-Jeaneau, Edition de la Revue des Beaux-Arts et des Lettres, s. d. [1899].