Old Man Seated

Painter, sculptor, and decorative artist Victor Prouvé is a key figure in the development of Art Nouveau, a movement inspired by the organic forms of nature. Born in the Art Nouveau hotbed of Nancy, he and other artists there helped drive popular taste toward this new style and away from rehashed versions of historical styles. Prouvé’s Old Man Seated belongs to a group of brush drawings in which he applied ink washes with extraordinary quickness and spontaneity. In subject matter this sheet feels like a realist work, but the technique speaks to an interest in the sweeping brushwork of Asian calligraphy.