Paul THOMAS
(Paris 1859 - Paris 1910)
Woman at a Mirror
Pastel on paper, laid down on board.
Signed Paul Thomas at the lower right.
446 x 296 mm. (17 1/2 x 11 5/8 in.)
Signed Paul Thomas at the lower right.
446 x 296 mm. (17 1/2 x 11 5/8 in.)
Relatively little is known of the painter, pastellist and sculptor Paul Thomas, who was a pupil of Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger. He became a member of the Société des Artistes Français in 1885, the same year that he came second in the Prix de Rome competition. Thomas exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français, showing mainly interiors, portraits and genre scenes, and winning a bronze medal in 1892 and a silver medal the following year. In an account of the Salon of 1895 one critic praised ‘the portraits of young girls whose ingenue-like grace M. Paul Thomas has rendered by such simple means.’1 In 1900 the artist was awarded a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle, and in 1906 was admitted to the Legion of Honour. Paintings by Paul Thomas are today in the collections of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the museums of Amiens and Reims, as well as in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.