Portfolio > Lou Posner: The Interface Between Life and Art

Posner secretly created Pour Ma Cosette as a gift for his wife after the couple saw Les Misérables, one of her favorite musicals. He completed the painting on their anniversary.

The composition draws on Émile Bayard’s iconic 1862 illustration of the young Cosette, but Posner dramatically enlarged the mop until it nearly dwarfs the child, emphasizing the burden of her labor.

The painting originally included a small portrait of his wife in the lower right corner. After she told him that she did not think the portrait worked, Posner painstakingly painted it out—a change they both agreed made
the painting stronger.