Milliners

Milliners, painted by Albert Marquet in 1901 during his early years in Paris, depicts the hat-makers and shop-girls who inhabited the commercial spaces of the city in a manner that recalls his friend Matisse's interest in the modern world of fashion and work. Marquet was part of the circle around Matisse and would exhibit with the Fauves at the 1905 Salon d'Automne, though his own palette remained more restrained than the movement's most extreme practitioners. The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg holds this early work as part of their significant French Post-Impressionist collection, acquired largely in the early twentieth century.

Marquet's handling of the milliners reflects his characteristic economy — figures are suggested with minimum means, relying on posture and gesture rather than detailed facial description. His color in this early work is more subdued than his Fauvist contemporaries. The composition places the figures within the implied space of a shop interior through tonal contrast rather than architectural detail.