Roger ETIENNE (1923-2011) - Lot 235

Roger ETIENNE (1923-2011) Learning to play the violin Gouache on paper Signed lower right 65.2 x 50 cm Folds Note: In Apprentissage du violon, Roger Etienne displays the tender, vibrant sensibility that characterizes so many of his juvenile figures. The gouache, saturated with deep colors, gives the subject a presence that is both fragile and luminous: a young musician, whose wide, dreamy gaze seems to carry the weight of a still-new emotion. The expressive brushstrokes, almost feverish at times, convey the hesitation of a gesture in the making - that of the artist as well as that of the child learning. Between controlled naiveté and discreet lyricism, Etienne composes a scene where childhood and art come together, in that suspended moment when discovery already becomes creation. A delicate work, full of intimacy and restrained gentleness.