In 1964, Charles Auffret created two similar sculptures: Gabrielle Drying Her Foot and Woman at her Toilette. They marked the start of his career and introduced the young 35- year-old sculptor to the public. For Woman at her Toilette, Charles Auffret was awarded the Godard Prize.

For Auffret, sculpture could be thought of as "a drawing in space" and could not be approached without the same practical rigor. It was also, for him, an architecture, which led him to an intensive study of form and structure. He had no need to smooth out or polish the surface of his works, as did Despiau or Maillol; on the contrary, the traces of his modeling remain apparent as a testimony to the immediacy of the artist's gesture, which aligns his work with the "sculpted impressionism" of Rodin, Degas, and Medardo Rosso.