Jean Rustin, oil on canvas, 1996
In the early 1970s, the French artist Jean Rustin made a complete turnaround in his career, he exchanged his abstract painting style for a totally innovative figurative visual language. With a virtuoso technique and an extraordinary colour palette, he painted his peculiar nudes. The bare genitals, often in a sexual act, are anything but erotic. These scenes, in which the body as element of pleasure and torment merge into a whole, respond to the emotions of the viewers. As it were, we are confronted with ourselves in a way we rather avoid, as if they represent the naked truth of ourselves. Rustin stands for affection, sentiment, vulnerability, the psyche and physical deterioration.
‘Femme assise sur son lit’ attracts attention with its staring, melancholic gaze. The minimal spatiality and grey colour tones of the figure and her surroundings reinforce the inner sadness we perceive in the figure herself. The raw form of the work creates an uncomfortable feeling; there is the primitive power of simplicity, an appeal that comes from unadorned artistic expression.
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