PROVENANCE:
Galerie Matignon, Paris
Private collection, Asia

This painting is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity signed by the director of the Galerie Matignon (wife of the artist), Simé Jansem.

In Modèle endormi(Sleeping Model), the subject has her legs drawn up, her knee-length dance stockings still on, but the costume gone from her trim upper body. The white widebrimmed hat is placed next to her. Her waterfall-like black hair falls loosely around the top of her head, and her hands are clasped together as if praying in a dream. The layered lilac background does not offer a place for the perspective to focus on. Instead, the line of sight follows the torso of the girl naturally from top to bottom, creating a sense of balance in the mind. This is Jansem's outstanding structural technique, emphasizing the subject and simplifying the background in order to create an imagined quietude.

Jansem's female characters usually leave a deep impression on the viewer. The subjects are primarily older women or teenage girls, especially slender teenage girls with light and trim bodies, moving gently with the lines. The young girls' head is often turned sideways and hidden in shadow, so we are not able to see their shy faces clearly. We are like silent observers, peeking in on the secrets of the girls as if from another world. In a stilllife depiction of his own atelier, Jansem added the postcard of a ballerina by Degas. In the spirit of Degas, Jansem was especially fond of young dancing girls, and young ballerinas. But different from the exuberant and lively girls under Degas' brush strokes, Jansem's little dancers usually appear alone and in a posture of repose, reminiscent of a single pure white marguerite daisy blossom swaying gently in the breeze.