Ottmann – Kissing Couple

Henry Ottmann (also Henri Ottmann)
(1877 Ancenis – 1927 Vernon)

KISSING COUPLE

Coloured pencil on paper, 20.5 x 26.5 cm
Signed and dated lower right: Henry Ottmann 21

Provenance:
Bernard Toublanc-Michel Collection

Literature:
Bernard Toublanc-Michel, Henry Ottmann. Catalogue raisonné, p. 158, no. 382

Henry Ottmann worked as a painter and graphic artist, first in Brussels, then mainly in Paris, where he exhibited with leading gallery owners Paul Durand-Ruel, Eugène Druet and Marcel Bernheim and, after his debut at the Salon La Libre Esthétique in Brussels, from 1904 onwards at the Salon des Indépendants, Salon d’Automne, Salon Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and Salon des Tuileries. His style is post-impressionist and moderately fauvist. His major works reveal his admiration for Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet.
The ‘Kissing Couple’ is a scene from Parisian nightlife in the 1920s. It is not entirely clear who took the initiative here. There is some evidence to suggest that it was the woman with the large hat. In any case, the gentleman does not resist either the huge hat or the kiss.