by Christina Nafziger

French-artist Sophie Dherbecourt creates perfectly balances paintings that fill the canvas with (mostly female) bodies. Legs and arms bend, reach, and intertwine with another person’s body, creating complex positions that fit right in with one another, creating a tactile, palpable intimacy that right now—as we all isolate—can often feel far away and absent from our lives. Her artistic background, which is rooted in graphic design, undoubtedly has influenced her exacting and carefully orchestrated compositions. Although her nude figures harken back to the work of cubist painters (with a hint of Georgia O’Keefe, as peace lily’s often appear in the paintings), Dherbecourt’s works are unmistakably contemporary and unique to her own distinct style.

Curently living in Paris, the artist is originally from Hardelot, a small French town by the sea. She studied not far away in Lille, where she earned her Master’s degree in visual communications and graphic design. Join the artist and I as we discuss her career as an artist, how she mentally prepares to paint, and how she pushes through creative blocks.

What inspired you to painting the figure? Have you always been interested in this subject?

Yes, representative art and figure has been my favorite topic since little, but without realizing really. The beauty and the light of imperfect faces and the movement of bodies interacting together have always fascinated me. One of my first drawings I can remember (around 1997) was a housewife, dressed with a green dress and holding a teapot. There is a real connection with how the image of women has been ingrained into me, still stuck in these sixties stereotypes.

The female nude is a subject that has long been portrayed throughout art history. What do you hope to achieve through your nude figures?

I attempt to get the stereotypes out of gender and deconstruct all of the hyper-sexualization and objectification of the body, whether it’s a masculine or feminine figure. Gender is a topic that needs to be entirely re-challenged as well as the beauty standards and questions of identity imposed by society.

Your compositions seem so carefully arranged—everything fits together perfectly. How much preliminary planning and/or sketching do you do before each piece?

I always start with really rough and chaotic sketches, it’s important to let my hand be completely free on the first drafts, and then I try to find the perfect balance between the figures. Like a poetic architecture, I tend to make harmonious and solid compositions with all the elements. The amount of preliminary work changes every time, sometimes the idea comes right away and sometimes it takes me weeks to be happy with the composition. It’s very irregular.

There is a specific cubist quality to your paintings. Has this art movement influenced your work? What artist do you find the most influential to your practice?

Cubism has indeed been a reference in the evolution of my work and my sense of style. I keep in mind the iconic Demoiselle D’Avignon by Picasso in my head as a landmark anytime I feel lost. Andre Lhote’s work has also been very important for me, and even more, the work of Tamara De Lempicka, who was Lhote’s student. I find her work so elegant and magical, it is the perfect balance between the light of the neoclassical movement and the cubist deconstruction. When I discovered her paintings, I knew this was where I needed to go.

I understand you have a background in graphic design. Has this affected how you approach your paintings?

Yes, totally. I think that I have never gotten rid of the legacy of graphic design. It allows me to understand the harmonization of colors, the importance of making choices, as well as the balance of a composition. These are keys elements that I find essential to build strong images that offer convenient interpretation.

Walk us through a typical day in your studio. What do you do when you come across a painting block?

I like to have structured days. I am a morning person so starting my days of work in the morning is essential. I usually make some tea first, check my emails, and then start to do whatever I have to do: drawing, start a painting, or keep going on one of them. I try to have traditional hours of work like from 9am to 7pm, painting 10 hours in a row isn’t a problem, but I want to have a social life after these hours of work.

I also accept the fact that there are some days when inspiration is not there, so I use these “empty” times to do my paperwork or go get some inspiration (in museums for example) or just catch up with my friends or family.

How do to prepare mentally to begin a new painting?

I tend to get frustrated at first; I avoid painting for a few days just to be sure that the desire will be there when I get back to painting. I prepare my research to be sure I have all the references ready for when I will start painting (sketches, colors, proportions, lightning etc).

How has your experience been in the art community in Paris? Where are your favorite places to go to view inspiring art?

I don’t have a classic career in the Parisian art world, coming from the graphic design world didn’t bring me to belong to any gallery. It is not the same when you come from institutions like prestigious fine arts school. When you get out of your studies, you already have contacts, galleries know your name and work. I don’t know if I want to belong to this world that can be sometimes snobbish and voluntarily inaccessible. I love the fact that I can keep control of my paintings, to know my clients and know where my art is sold. I am not saying that I will never be ok with exhibiting in a Parisian gallery, but I want to keep my feet on the ground and belong to exhibitions that represent my work properly.

If your audience took away one thing from your work, what would you want that one thing to be?

I think I would want them to take away this way of deconstructing and redirecting bodies, as well as the strength of my figures that are poetic and free. They lean on each other in order to create a harmonious and timeless composition that gives hopes in these complicated times.

Do you have anything coming up you’d like to tell us about?

I was supposed to exhibit for the first time in Paris last April, but like everything else, it was cancel due to the virus. All my paintings have been sold since, so I am currently working on a new body of work to be exhibited in 2021 (fingers crossed).

Where are you from originally? Where did you study?

I come from a little town in northern France called Hardelot, close to the sea. I studied in Lille (which is the biggest town near my hometown) in a graphic design school called ECV during 5 years. I graduated with a master of visual communication and graphic design in 2016.