The Convalescent, Madame Lepère 1892

Auguste-Louis Lepère created this color woodcut, “The Convalescent, Madame Lepère,” sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Lepère's work often captured the nuances of Parisian life, but here, the setting shifts to a more intimate, personal sphere. The woman's gaze, directed away from us, perhaps mirrors a deeper, internal contemplation. As she recovers, does she question her role, her identity in a society that often confined women to domestic spaces? The sea might represent the vast possibilities beyond her immediate circumstances, or perhaps, the emotional depths she is navigating. Lepère’s wife is depicted neither as a spectacle nor as an object of desire, but rather as an individual experiencing a quiet moment of reflection. Lepère invites us to consider the subtle, often unseen, emotional and psychological states of women within the domestic sphere, and to recognize the complexities of their experiences.