The Schwartz Girls drawing

Zorn executed this drawing of the Schwartz sisters in 1889, the same year he was living in Paris and immersed in the circle of American expatriates and international collectors who would become some of his most important patrons. The work on cardboard — now in the Musée d'Orsay — reflects the intimacy of a private commission rather than the formal ambition of a salon portrait. The Schwartz family were part of the cultivated American community in Paris, and Zorn frequently accepted commissions from this milieu. Depicting siblings in a domestic or informal moment aligned with the contemporary taste, influenced by Impressionism, for capturing subjects in unguarded, naturalistically composed arrangements. The choice of cardboard as support was common for study and presentation pieces — lighter and more portable than canvas, it was well suited to intimate formats. That this piece ended up in the Orsay collection reflects the museum's interest in Zorn as a significant northern European presence in the Parisian artistic world of the 1880s.

Worked on cardboard, the piece exploits the warm mid-tone of the support as a base from which lighter passages are built up and darker accents introduced. The drawing quality is evident in the crisp outlines of the figures, while painterly washes add volume and atmosphere. Zorn's handling gives the two sisters distinct presences — differentiated by small contrasts in posture and the direction of their gazes — within a compact, unified composition.