Description
‘Cathy’ by Camille Murgue
Artist: Camille Murgue
Title: ‘Cathy’
Medium: Pen, brush and ink on paper
Dimensions: 13.3″ x 10.3″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2023
About the Artwork:
“This portrait of a woman whose face has disappeared, revealing her skull, represents the ephemeral destiny of every living beings. However, instead of instilling fear, this symbol of mortality captivates us and compels us to contemplate.
Sumptuously dressed in a garment that suggests a bygone era, she seems intent on returning our gaze, wearing an eternal smile.
Our attention is quickly drawn to her meticulously crafted scarf, its finesse and refinement again echoing the fragility of life. The very essence of vanity is to remind us of the fleeting nature of ephemeral beauty, while inviting us to meditate on the value of each moment. The passage of time is visible here, not only in the theme of the drawing, but also in the way it is executed! Pen and ink on paper is a very slow technique, the shadows drawn point by point are hours and hours of work over days and days.
The rest of the portrait, rendered in wash, envelops us in a dreamlike, ethereal atmosphere. Contours fade slightly, as if time itself were fading away, creating a mysterious, poetic haze. The subtle contrast between the precision of the skull and scarf and the softness of the wash reveals the paradoxical harmony between the permanence of human vanity and the transience of our existence.” – Camille Murgue
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Camille is a french illustrator from Lyon working with pen and ink. She creates meticulously dreamlike vanitases in a dark universe. Her recurring subjects are the body, often feminine, the fauna and flora. She covers those elements with ornaments or open them to expose bones and other internal anatomies. She seeks a balance between believable and wonder, strangeness and elegance, macabre and sweetness. She regularly exhibits her art and also works on commissions, mainly on album covers for metal bands.