Ker-Xavier Roussel Sketching

Édouard Vuillard, French

1902-03

Oil on cardboard

Saint Louis Art Museum

A man sits at a table covered with papers, sketching in an interior room with a fireplace and patterned curtains. In a quiet room, the painter Ker-Xavier Roussel, brother-in-law of fellow artist Édouard Vuillard, sketches at a table. With his dark jacket and unassuming appearance, Roussel is nearly indistinguishable from the background. Vuillard frequently painted family and friends in intimate interior settings in such a way that they disappear into their surroundings. Portrayed here in brushstrokes and tones identical to the fireplace mantel behind him, Roussel becomes part of the tapestry of patterns, colors, and objects that make up this living space. Vuillard emphasized this interrelationship between figures and their…