Jean-Gabriel Domergue (1889-1962), born in Bordeaux, France, is known as the painter of the "Parisian ladies". He invented a new type of woman : thin, airy, elegant, with a swanlike neck and wide seductive eyes which gaze upon the world with longing. "I invented the pin-up" he later claimed. Domergue painted approximately 3,000 portraits, selecting his models among fashionable actresses or famous dancers of his time, as well as among the aristocratic and high society circles of Paris, painting individuals such as Liane de Pougy or Nadine, the future Baroness of Rothschild. Domergue had a talent for highlighting the fickle and dazzling side of beautiful women one likes to imagine. His classical training combined with an aura of fantasy make Domergue's portraits unlike any others. Domergue changed the way women were portrayed, breaking the traditional melancholic and vaporish poses. The female figure became airy, sparkling and effervescent laying the ground in his own way for the feminine revolution which began in the next decades.
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