Woman with a Muff (La Dame au Manchon) 1888

"Woman with a Muff" (1888) by Émile Bernard is a striking woodcut, rendered in bold, simplified strokes. The subject, a woman in a long dress and a hat, is depicted with a distinctive sense of form and volume, typical of Bernard's early style. The use of a single color and the stark contrast between the figure and the background contribute to the work's visual impact. Bernard's focus on simplification and the use of flat planes of color reflects the influence of the post-Impressionist movement and particularly the artistic theories of Paul Gauguin. This work, like many of Bernard's creations, showcases the artist's unique approach to depicting the human figure within a simplified, expressive framework.