Claire Tabouret - Self-Portrait (Blue)

Claire Tabouret’s Self-Portrait (Blue) (2021) is a richly hued archival pigment print on cotton paper that captures the artist in a contemplative pose, rendered with expressive brushwork and layered color. Despite the title, warm tones of orange, rust, and ochre dominate the composition, creating a striking contrast with the cooler background and shimmering highlights in the blouse. Issued in an edition of 75 with 20 artist’s proofs, each print is hand-signed and numbered in pencil.

There is a brazen intimacy with these self-depictions, but also a sense of remove or alienation. With these works, Tabouret places herself in a lineage of women painters who have produced bravura self-portraiture, including seventeenth-century artists Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Judith Leyster. At risk of oversimplification of a complex historical topic, one might say that, while excluded from the use of male models in studio practice, women turned to the most accessible and accommodating sitter: themselves. The result is most disarming, candid – and somehow, turns us, viewers, into the artist: surreptitiously, this act of looking inwards, into ourselves, becomes ours, through an unexplainable act of transfer, Tabouret offers us the means to slip inside her gaze – we gain access to our selves through her gaze. – Joachim Pissarro in MOUSSE Magazine, 10.12.2021

Claire Tabouret, a French figurative painter based in Los Angeles, brings a distinct emotional depth and technical prowess to her artwork, creating an intriguing blend of reality and fantasy through her impressionistic portraits. Utilizing a unique, hydrous palette that oscillates between the vibrant artificiality of cosmetics and the subdued tones of natural earth, Tabouret’s style captures an ethereal quality that seems both otherworldly and intimately familiar. Her sources of inspiration are as eclectic as her color choices, drawing from vintage photographs, magazine imagery, and historical texts, which she seamlessly integrates with personal memories and spontaneous creativity. Claire Tabouret describes her artistic process as intuitive, a dance of the hands unguided by conscious thought, allowing her emotional impulses to guide the brush. This method results in layered compositions where the past and present merge, evoking a sense of nostalgia tinged with contemporary urgency. In her exploration of the transformative power of painting, Tabouret focuses on the metamorphosis of her subjects, often depicted in various states of becoming—through costume, makeup, or a dramatic palette. She aims to capture and extend the fleeting moment of transformation, inviting viewers to engage with the figures in her artworks during their most pivotal changes. This thematic focus not only challenges the viewer’s perception of identity and time but also underscores the transformative potential of the medium itself. Through her artwork, Claire Tabouret invites a contemplative engagement with change, both visible and visceral, making her pieces a compelling study of human emotion and the continuous flux of life. Her paintings stand as a testament to the enduring power of the figurative tradition in art, reinterpreted through a modern lens to resonate with contemporary audiences. Her limited edition prints extend this exploration, allowing a wider audience to engage with her contemplative approach to painting. Each print serves as a vibrant testament to Tabouret’s mastery as a painter and her capacity to encapsulate complex emotional landscapes in a single moment. Claire Tabouret’s artwork has been acquired by major collections including the Columbus Museum of Art, ICA Miami, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Pinault Collection, Collection Lambert, and FRAC Auvergne, among others. She lives and works in Los Angeles. French, born in 1981.