DALLAS — Leading Heritage’s June 4 Fine European Art Signature Auction was “Nu accroupi sur une couverture” by Jacques Majorelle. The French artist settled in Marrakech, Morocco, in the autumn of 1922, where he began to paint the locals, with the goal to depict them as humans, not just subjects. The circa 1933-44 work, which used gouache, pastel and metallic powders on heavy paper, featured a young nude woman seated on a richly hued red textile. Her knees were raised, blocking her fully nude body from the viewer, which may have been a purposeful choice by Majorelle to combat the excessively exploitative depictions of northern African woman by Orientalist painters of the period. It had provenance to Paul-Eugéne Sombsthay, a French expatriate banker who relocated to Morocco and befriended Majorelle, eventually receiving this work from the artist. It is signed and inscribed “J Majorelle / Marrakech” lower right and was sold for more than two times its high estimate, at $71,875. A later review will describe additional highlights from this sale.