"The Acrobat or The Wheel," Suzanne Valadon, 1927.
Valadon (1865-1938) is hard to pin down as an artist; her style is difficult to categorize but she's often listed as either a Post-Impressionist or Symbolist.
She learned to draw while very young, was a model for many of the Impressionist circle, but broke into the art world on her own. Degas was a fan, and one can see some of his influence here. Some say her modeling was more a chance for her to watch the Impressionists and others at work, and learn by observing.
She was noted for her strong colors and candid, non-idealized images of women. (Like I've said before, you can count on women artists to depict other women realistically.) Here, we have an acrobat about to do a cartwheel; it's a great action pose, very dynamic. There's a flash of underwear but nothing leering here. The background offers little context; we just have the woman and her movement. She could be doing this for herself, for all we know. Was that Valadon's intent?
From a private collection.
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