Italian artist Mario Tozzi studied at the Academy in Bologna. In 1919, he went to Paris, where, together with de Chirico and Severini at the end of the 1920s, he took part in the “Group of Seven” (Gruppo dei Sette). His solo exhibition in the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris impressed Pablo Picasso. Spanish philosopher and critic d’Ors also spoke highly of him.

In the late 1920s, Tozzi became famous and popular in Paris, and his works took their proper place in collections of the major museums in France and around the world. In 1932, he was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour.

In this period, he created the painting from the Moscow collection, where the artist’s two favorite motifs are combined: a figure in an interior space and a still life. A certain shift of planes is present in this composition, and the motif of a mannequin as a live character is used.