oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, signed at the bottom middle, in black, "P. ANDREZ"

Research information

Created during his exceptionally successful years in Paris, this enchanting painting features the artist working under his celebrated French pseudonym, "Paul Andrez". Designed primarily as a strategic response to the commercial demands of the late 19th century French market, this artistic name allowed him to bypass the cultural prejudices of Western European art dealers and adapt directly to the bourgeois taste for fashionable salon painting. Operating from his studio in Montmartre, Bukovac used this alias even to test the objectivity of the French art establishment, successfully submitting works under the name of Paul Andrez to the prestigious Paris Salon - especially in 1892, when he simultaneously exhibited under three different identities to bypass strict limitations on the number of submitted works.

Created during his exceptionally successful Parisian years, this enchanting picture depicts Vlaho Bukovac creating under his celebrated French pseudonym Paul Andrez. Devised primarily as a strategic response to the commercial demands of the late nineteenth-century French market, this artistic alias allowed the artist to sidestep the cultural prejudice of Western European art dealers and directly cater to bourgeois taste for fashionable salon painting. Operating from his Montmartre studio, Bukovac used this alias to even test the objectivity of the French art establishment, successfully submitting works under the name of Paul Andrez to the prestigious Paris Salon, notably in 1892, when he simultaneously exhibited under three different identities to bypass strict limits on the number of submitted works. In this specific composition, the artist depicts a young woman dynamically raising a red tambourine above her head, her idealized facial features illuminated by his recognizable mastery of light, a beautiful contrast with the rich textures of her traditional folk costume, a vest with a gold trim, and elegant evening gloves. This canvas represents a key accompanying work to another famous picture from the same cycle, La belle au kimono, painted in 1890. Both masterpieces share Bukovac's brilliant and recognizable trompe-l'œil gold frame painted directly on the edge of the fabric, complete with fluid, dark filigree corners in the Art Nouveau style. While the aforementioned picture with the kimono fully turns to the exotic Far East fashion that captivated the late Victorian imagination, The Girl with the Tambourine celebrates local folk costume and theatrical charm through a playful Parisian perspective. In both masterpieces, Bukovac breaks the strict conventions of academic portrait by allowing his models to theatrically spill over their faux frames, as seen here where her billowing, transparent drapery seamlessly falls over the painted lath and breaks its boundaries. Originally sold to international collectors who believed they were purchasing the work of an enigmatic nineteenth-century French master, this work represents a virtuoso fusion of masterly skin-tone lighting, strategic market maneuvering, and early modern spatial illusion.

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