Carrara marble sculpture, unique piece made by the technic of the adjustment, signed "C.Contesse"
Circa 1940
A pupil of Falguière and Antonin Mercié, Contesse debuted in 1901 at the Salon des artistes français, which he left only after the war to exhibit at the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, later at the Salon d'Automne and at the Salon des Tuileries.

He stood out from the prevailing academicism in that he sought his own style, a slow and reasoned attempt which led him to create more graceful sculptures such as this woman unveiling herself modestly after her bath.

The artist's work includes many female nudes and children’s' figures, separated or united as happy groups evoking the theme of motherhood. In 1925, he collaborated with the Manufacture de Sèvres. 

A bas-relief of Gaston Contesse, which was created for the 1937 Exposition Universelle of Paris, adorns the north-west facade of the Palais de Chaillot. It fully embodies his style with both stylisation and delicacy in the representation of the nude female body.