Venus

The central subject of the painter Francine Simonin is undoubtedly that of the body, particularly that of the woman. Whether in the works of women's areas or the series of chairs, Simonin was able to present a kind of theater of women in motion.

For Simonin, the female body was only a starting point for what she had to say. In this way she personally places the woman in her time and not by the surrounding culture. The figure of Venus which appears around the year 1983 is therefore part of a quest for the representation of the female body. First, Simonin was interested in the image of the body, in its projection. Then, little by little, the movement gains momentum.

In the years 1984 and 1985, a series of works called Interior Films presented bodies in sequenced movements like a film, stopping at each shot. An interiority takes hold of the work, Simonin no longer seeks the image, but the inner message. Admiring cinema and dance, she will say that movement naturally follows the body. Despite the static of the mode of expression that is painting, it will succeed in brilliantly expressing the movement both by rendering and by execution. These sequences will then lead her to the series of chairs where she asks the models to enter her studio, to move freely and be comfortable. She then captures the shapes and the light reflected on them.

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