Eric Gillis Fine Art - Catalogue 19 - October 2017

E R I G I L L I S F I N E

A RT

1785 1919

Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture

 catalogue 19

1785 1919

Paintings, Drawings, & Sculpture

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Works on sale

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Victor-Jean Nicolle 1754 – Paris – 1826 Italian vedute

Watercolour and pen on laid paper, ca. 1785-89 Signed lower right J.V. Nicolle Sheet 240 x 162 mm Provenance Private collection, France

A talented painter of landscapes, and award winner of the Grand prix de perspective in 1771 during his education at the Ecole Royale gratuite de dessin in Paris, Victor-Jean Nicolle first developed his taste for architecture under the aegis of the architecture and perspective teacher N.J. Malhortie, and then joined the workshop of Louis François Petit-Radel, an architect and draftsman in the vein of Piranesi. His passion for representing ancient ruins was encouraged by Louis XVI who sent him to Italy to paint views of Rome and other Italian cities, as for instance Venice, Florence, Naples, etc. These works, added to Parisian landscapes, set an incredible record of urbanism and monuments of that time.

The present work takes root in the tradition of vedute, urban landscapes undertaken to fix the memory of the Grand Tour, with a desire for a so-called topographical precision. It is centred on a massive bridge presenting an ancient style mascherone and drawn with details in a peaceful atmosphere and a harmonious colour palette. Nicolle also displayed it with a glance at everyday life. To reach his goal, he was attentive to represent human activities surrounded by architecture, like here, where washerwomen come with their laundry on the riverbank, while chatting with each other.

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Jean-Baptiste Isabey 1767 Nancy – Paris 1855 Selfportrait

Black stone with white highlights on laid paper, ca. 1800 Sheet 205 x 205 mm, in its original blue mount Literature Edmond Taigny, J.-B. Isabey : sa vie et ses œuvres, Paris, 1859; Tony Halliday,

“Academic Outsiders at the Paris Salons of the Revolution : the Case of Drawings

à la manière noire”, in Oxford Art Journal, vol. 21, no. 1, 1998, pp. 71-86; Omar Calabrese,

L’art de l’autoportrait : Histoire et théorie d’un genre pictural, Paris, 2006 Provenance Private collection, France

One of the best examples we have ever seen of the classical French tradition of self-portraits during the 18th century and the turn of the century. Isabey was known for his great charm, and we cannot imagine a better representation than by the artist himself. Isabey enjoyed representing himself, alone or dissimulated in his own paintings, such as for instance in La Barque d’Isabey (Musée du Louvres, Paris). His self-portraits were codified and displayed many common points with portraits of him realised by other artists: his face, adorned with curly hair, never implies the audience’s presence while his demeanour suggests a man of good social condition distinguishing himself by the white ‘cravate’ surrounding his neck. The care given to his clothes evokes the desire of the artists of that time to join the ranks of the nobility, with whom Isabey was daily hobnobbing in order to realise the commissioned portraits1. For instance, in the works where he pictured himself on his own, he relied on his miniatures’ characteristics, enclosing the upper part of his body into a medallion. Self-portrait also allowed him to show different facets of his personality: the father and the husband, the member of the Légion d’honneur, the court’s artist, etc.

Isabey obtained a tremendous and long-enduring success with his miniatures, but, in the present piece he staged himself in a much larger format, using a new technique of his own making: the “manière noire drawing.” At that time, the English engravings based on Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough’s paintings were being introduced in France, and gave Isabey the idea of assimilating this process2. By the use of the pencil and the stump to simulate the engraving, the “manière noire drawing” allowed the creation of a luminous contrast by highlighting the shapes from the shadow. Indeed, in 1794 at the Salon, Isabey surprised his public by two drawings, Le Départ and Le Retour executed with this new technique.

The present self-portrait could not illustrate more eloquently this original technique, and marked the century’s tuning point. It was so truly associated with the artist that the pencil, recently invented by Nicolas-Jacques Conté, was named “Isabey’s pencil”3.

2 Edmond Taigny, op.cit., p. 51.

3 Tony Halliday, op.cit., p. 72.

1 Omar Calabrese, op.cit., p. 189.

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Ferdinand-Philippe d’Orléans 1810 Palerme – Neuilly-sur-Seine 1842 Passage couvert

Ink and wash on paper, 1827 Signed and dated lower left Ferdinand Philippe d’Orléans, 27 juillet 1827 Sheet 140 x 110 mm Provenance Private collection, France

Ferdinand-Philippe d’Orléans, the elder son of the King LouisPhilippe of France, is the most portrayed figure in the Louvre museum. His military career is not the centre of our focus here but rather his attraction to the artistic practice. In addition to a liberal upbringing, the young duke received an artistic education from the painter Ary Scheffer. A soldier and an artist, his taste for art also grew and turned into active patronage.

who lived in Versailles, have most probably participated to Ferdinand Philippe’s artistic education. The present sheet - similar to Granet’s vision - was actually realized one year after the artist’s return in France. The latter used to depict dark interiors, like churches, caves, undergrounds, etc., lit by luminous sources and structured with multiple arches.

The gloomy atmosphere, the paved and arched monument adorned with fences are all elements part of Granet’s works.

The figure here frees himself from this austere environment to embrace daylight. The passage also might then hold an additional meaning: the shift from a state of imprisonment to one of liberation.

Ferdinand-Philippe achieved the present work in his youth. The general composition leads to believe that he was then under the influence of the painter FrançoisMarius Granet. The King, who collected works by Granet since 1818, appointed the artist as Conservateur de Versailles in 1826. Granet left Rome, and came back to Paris to pursue this new career. Close to the King and his family, the artist

Acquiring a work by a French ‘ royal’ artist is something rather unusual.

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Henri Lehmann 1814 Kiel – Paris 1882 Study of a figure, for Le Baptême du Christ (Saint-Merri’s Church)

Pencil, sanguine and wash on laid paper, ca. 1840-44 Sheet 170 x 142 mm Provenance Emile Joseph-Rignault, Paris (Lugt 2218); sold at Tajan, November 5, 2014, Paris, lot 79

(expert Claudia Mercier), supposed to be part of the collection ‘Pantchenko’

the four chapels of the church were renovated under King Louis-Philippe. In the early 1840’s, the decoration works were respectively entrusted to Chassériau, Amaury-Duval, Lepaulle and Lehmann. The latter began his decorations in 1842, immediately after his return from Italy. It was the first public order passed to the artist on his return from Italy.

For some reason, Henri Lehmann, a prominent decorator, subtle portrait artist and first-rate draughtsman, remains one of the most under-appreciated artists of the 19th century. A student of Ingres, he suffered from the same ostracism as the other artists of this atelier. Just like Chassériau, he interpreted Ingres’ artistic language into a measured Romanticism and remained a classical painter, preparing his compositions by a series of drawings and sketches. As a draughtsman, Lehmann used all the techniques but preferred black chalk, a little oily, mixed with sanguine to execute expressive studies, with an easily recognizable stroke. Henri Lehmann personified the tradition, however it counted in his students some artists among the most innovative ones of their generation: the symbolists Aman-Jean, Alexandre Séon and Alphonse Osbert, and most of all Georges Seurat in 1879.

The present face is of course fully ingresque but the use of the wash gives it something more dramatic. We link it to a standing figure at the left of the Saint-Merri composition, with its empty eyes, although the head is seen more from profile. The drawing came up at Tajan in 2014 with around ten other works of Lehmann that belonged to the ‘Pantchenko’ collection. He was the father-in-law of the actual seller and supposed to have purchased quite a few Lehmann drawings from an old atelier sale. They all have been seen and authenticated by Marie-Madelaine Aubrun and were supposed to be included in a new catalogue raisonné in preparation, but she unfortunately died before achievement.

The work is in very good condition.

Nearly symbolist, the present sheet is not directly related to a painting, but belongs to several studies for his painting at the Saint-Merri church in Paris, Le Baptême du Christ, dated ca. 1842-44. Built in the 16th century in the heart of Paris,

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Jean-Auguste Barre 1811 – Paris – 1896 The Actress Rachel

Old plaster with patina, 1847 Signed, dated and titled on the base RACHEL. A. BARRE Fit 1847 Stamped BARRE / PARIS Size 47 cm Anne Pingeot and al., La Sculpture française au XIXe siècle, Paris, 1986, p. 255 (ill.); Literature

Jean-René Gaborit and al., Sculpture française. II / Renaissance et temps modernes, vol. I,

Paris, 1998, no. RF 1508, p. 33 (ill.)

Provenance Private collection, France

Executed in ivory, bronze, silvered bronze, plaster and bisque porcelain with infinite variations, Barre created a statuette romantique that was frequently reproduced and affordable for the wide public. All the listed effigies are dated 1847 except for two ivories: the one of the Louvre, dated 1848, is most likely the copy shown at the Salon of 1849; the other, dated 1851, was sold with the collection of the writer Jules Janin in 1877 (see Anne Pingeot, op. cit., p. 255). The precision of the classical costume and hear dress, the Greek ornaments and frieze referring to the Greek mythology, and the truthful representation of the sitter’s face and posture were essential to the statuette’s success. In meditative stance, her gaze casted afar, Rachel embodied the actress perfectly, who was known for her clear diction and minimized gestures.

Serene and taciturn, Rachel is exemplary for 19th century French romantic sculpture, but most importantly, an ode to the acclaimed actress who evoked a high demand for classical tragedy across Europe.

The statuette became internationally-known for it was not only exhibited at the Salon of 1849, but also shown at the 1889 Exposition Universelle and even mentioned by the dandy author Jules Lecomte (1810-1864) in his description of the actress’ changing room.

Medalist and sculptor, Jean-Auguste Barre was widely recognised for his small statuette-portraits, a fashion that started in the 1830’s. An object of great desire amongst the 19th century public, due to its small size, its efficient and affordable distribution in series, and easy placement in bourgeois apartments. In his signature style of powerful romanticism, Barre created elegant memorabilia of royalty, officials and celebrated dancers and actresses. Initiated by Mme de Pompadour and her friends in the mid-18th century, the tradition of having a statue of one’s favourite actress made its way through the 19th century, triggering actresses to have their busts reproduced so as to distribute them amongst their admirers.

On 12 August 1847 the beloved tragediènne, Mademoiselle Rachel (Elizabeth-Rachel Félix, 1821-1858) ordered the first exemplar of the present Barre’s Rachel, dressed as her most admired character Phèdre (see Jean-René Gaborit, op.cit., p. 33).

Whilst the Romantic Drama movement was becoming increasingly popular during the 19th century, the tragedy Phèdre – derived from Greek mythology – had enjoyed a revival thanks to Rachel’s talent for classical drama.

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François Bonvin 1817 Vaugirard – Saint Germain-en-Laye 1887 Man smoking a Pipe

Black chalk on laid brown paper, 1847 Signed and partially dated lower right F. Bonvin / 47 Sheet 217 x 173 mm Exhibition The Hague, Haags Historisch Museum, Grenzeloos goed : Tekeningen uit de Unicorno collectie,

2001, no. 23, p. 49 (ill.)

Provenance (probably) Louis Laperlier, Paris; Saam Nijstad and Lily Nijstad-Einhorn, The Hague;

Private collection, France

A striking portrait’s sheet by François Bonvin. His modern reputation rests largely on his drawings. The present sheet is an early drawing by the artist, whose first dated works were executed in 1845 and 1846, while he still worked as a civil servant. At this point, at the outset of his artistic career, he would not be able to afford models, and would often make drawings of friends and their families. It was also during this period that Bonvin would occasionally exhibit his drawings under the arcades of the Institut de France, and it was there that he met the collector Louis Laperlier, who was to become his first and most loyal patron. Laperlier started to collect drawings by Bonvin in 1846 and, as the artist later recalled « Mon prix ordinaire était de 12 francs pour 8 dessins à l’aquarelle. M. Laperlier ne collectionnait guère que mes dessins, de préférence à tout autre, et il ne passait guère de semaine sans que je n’empochasse mes 12 francs. »

Born into poverty, François Bonvin studied at the Ecole de Dessin in Paris between 1828 and 1830, but had to give up and began as a typesetter and printer. His earliest known works date from the late 1830’s, a period during which Bonvin was also working as a police clerk. He eventually returned to his studies at the Ecole de Dessin - a school geared primarily towards Decorative Arts - and in 1843 began attending life-drawing classes at the Académie Suisse. Around this time, he met his mentor, the painter François-Marius Granet, who encouraged him to study 17th century Dutch and Flemish paintings as a way of refining his approach to genre subjects. Perhaps with the support of Granet, who was on the jury, Bonvin made his Salon debut in 1847, and he continued to show there until 1880, earning a reputation as a genre and still-life painter. Bonvin rose to become one of the leaders of a group of Realist painters in 19th century. ln 1859 several of his paintings were accepted for exhibition at the Salon, though Realist works by such friends and colleagues as Henri Fantin-Latour, Alphonse Legros, Théodule Ribot and James McNeill Whistler were rejected. As a result, Bonvin invited these artists to exhibit their rejected works in his studio, known as the Atelier Flamand, an offer repeated after the Salon. In 1863, his wife left him, and Bonvin found it difficult to concentrate on his paintings, preferring instead to make numerous drawings. ln his final years he grew blind and suffered from paralysis, he died impoverished in 1887.

The present sheet can be related to two self-portraits made in ca. 1846-47, a painting at the Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle), and a drawing at the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles). These three works all show a true but strong austerity, and a pensive introspection obviously close to the Realism movement and Courbet.

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Didier Petit de Meurville 1793 Fonds-des-Nègres – Biarritz 1873 View of the countryside of Alicante

Oil on paper laid on canvas, ca. 1850 Size 30.5 x 23.5 cm Provenance Private collection, France

Didier Petit de Meurville – painter, art aficionado and prominent collector of antiques and religious art – had many talents, which he seemed to exercise simultaneously and successfully. Born in Haiti in 1793, when the political climate was tumultuous, Petit de Meurville ventured to Lyon and began his career as a silk manufacturer. Soon, the silk ornaments produced by Didier Petit & Compagnie were acclaimed for its richness by the press and public nationwide. Whilst laying with Pauline Jaricot the foundation for the Propagation of the Faith in 1822, Petit de Meurville established a network of influential politicians such as Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869), minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1848 Lamartine nominated Petit de Meurville to become vice-consul of France in Alicante, after which he was transferred to San Sebastian 1857.

sea and countryside, with specific attention to its skies. His fascination with the local architecture and regional flora, and his panoramic studies have resulted in delightful paintings such as the present oil on paper View of the countryside of Alicante.

Considering the relatively small format of his work and his modest pictorial approach, Petit de Meurville’s oeuvre illustrates a high degree of plasticity – revealing at times the bright and direct brushstroke of impressionism – and a remarkable documentational quality. That way, Petit de Meurville brilliantly takes his full path into the plein-air sketch trend.

Whilst a significant part of his work is now preserved at the Zumalakarregi Museum, Gipuzcoa, the Musée Basque in Bayonne has dedicated an exhibition and catalogue to his work in 1994, followed by San Sebastian’s naval museum in 2002, which showed coastal-themed gouaches and drawings from the collection of Javier Satrústegui.

Exercising his consular duties in Alicante and San Sebastian, both picturesque landscapes provided Petit de Meurville with favourable painting opportunities. Traveling through the Alicante province, he painted numerous views of the

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Théodule-Augustin Ribot 1823 Saint Nicolas d’Attez – Colombes 1891 Portrait of the Imperial Prince

Oil on panel, ca. 1862-66 Signed lower left T.Ribot Size 28 x 23 cm Exhibition Roslyn Harbor, Nassau County Museum of Art, Napoleon III & Eugénie, 2009, p. 12 (ill.)

Provenance Christopher Forbes Collection, New York ; Private collection, France

Gorgeous portrait expressing the ambiguous charm of the Imperial child. Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte (1856-1879), the Imperial Prince, was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and the Empress Eugénie de Montijo.

The solitude reflected in this portrait, as well as the dark coat of the child give a great solemnity to the work.

Ribot, who exhibited for the first time at the Salon in 1861, won medals for his participations of 1864 and 1865. It is probably during these years that he painted this portrait.

The artist contributed to the realist movement, and was a close friend to Henri Fantin-Latour. The simplicity of this aristocratic portrait could be explained by the artist’s interest for naturalistic representation, as the majority of his works depict the poorest population of the time. The strong contrasts in the composition are softened by the delicacy of the face, especially the pinkish hue on the child cheeks.

In excellent condition, this portrait is a real gem.

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Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux 1827 Valenciennes – Courbevoie 1875 Portrait of the sculptor Joseph Osbach

Oil on canvas, 1874 Size 29.5 x 20 cm Provenance Private collection, France

The portraits of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux are always powerful works. Here, Carpeaux portrayed the French sculptor, Joseph Osbach. This young man was most probably a student of Carpeaux. On August 4, 1874, the painter mentioned in his journal working on a portrait of Osbach. However, there is a second portrait of the sculptor by the artiste. Still in private collection, this other portrait is a very sensual depiction of the young man as he presents a nude shoulder. The two paintings offer a rich vision of Carpeaux’s unique talent to represent complex personalities.

Laure de Margerie confirmed the authenticity of the work, as well as the identity of the model.

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Henri De Braekeleer 1840 – Antwerp – 1888 The Collector’s room in Antwerp

Oil on canvas, ca. 1884 Signed lower right Henri de Braekeleer Size 65 x 81 cm Reference Van Zype 99 (1883-87); Tralbaut 126 Antwerp, Kunst van Heden, Leys-De Braekeleer, 1905, no. 206; Brussels 1930 no. 90; Exhibition

Brussels 1933, no. 45; Ghent, KMSK, Henri De Braekeleer, 1989, no. S43 Provenance Van de Put, Antwerp (sold 10.04.1884, 800fr.); Notaris Damiens, Brussels (after 1891);

sale Campo, Antwerp, 1984; Private collection, Belgium (acquired at the above sale)

A pristine and very rare example of Henri de Braekeleer’s mastery. The painting was arbitrarily titled by the author of the catalogue raisonné, Gustave Van Zype, as an Antiquariaat interior. The place shown was indeed not a fantasy of Braekeleer’s imagination but most probably the real interior of a very motivated collector of antiquities. Although collecting antique furniture had started and became fashionable in Antwerp in the 1860’s, the variety of antique objects assembled here points to a very obsessed collector. There is no definitive evidence of this, but all signs and suppositions lead to the interior of the young Frans Claes, a famous Antwerp archaeologist, and certainly one of the most important collectors in Flanders at the end of the 19th century.

members of the Linnig family, painters and keen collectors of antiquities. He was co-creator of the Museum Vleeshuis (then the Antwerp Museum of antiquities in the beautiful old Meat House) of which he became the first Director. Also, he was the initiator of the Cercle Archéologique d’Anvers. Many items in the collections of the Vleeshuis bear the notice Gift of Frans Claes. In 1932 a liber amicorum was published in his honour, Gedenkboek Frand Claes, 276 pages published by De Sikkel.

After his death (19th of June 1933), his collections were dispersed by the local specialised auctioneer Van Herck in three sessions. The catalogues and additional photo albums are jammed with many hundreds of lots each, one sometimes grouping hundreds of objects, and with strong holdings of applied art of the Southern Low Countries.

Born in 1860, Claes is known to have been collecting very early when he was still a child. His collection was a mixture of many different fields, between old masters on canvas, copper and paper, antique objects, pieces of porcelain, and others. Around 1910, he set his collection in De Gulden Spoor building, also called Museum Claes at the time. Between his good friends were

As most of the de Braekeleer paintings are in public collection, works of such a quality are very rare on the market. It is in fine condition, relined, with absolutely no weakness of the coat and the painting.

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Philippe-Marie Chaperon 1823 Paris – Lagny-sur-Marne 1906 Decor project for Aida ; act IV, scene 3

Gouache and collage on laid paper, 1880 Signed and dated lower left Ph Chaperon 1880 Sheet 334 x 445 mm Provenance Private collection, France

This very impressive decor for the act IV of Aida was created by the painter-decorator Philippe-Marie Chaperon. Specialised in the creation of theatrical scenes, he was solicited for his talent by numerous Parisian and foreign theatres. Former student of Charles Cicéri, his trip to Spain and his taste for architecture however allowed him to develop his own style.

Associated with his classmate Auguste-Alfred Rubé, both worked on the Aida’s project, an opera exposing the tragic love story between the Ethiopian princess Aida and an Egyptian soldier, Radamès. Inspired by the Egyptian pharaohs and based on a love triangle, it depicts the strategy implemented

by Amneris, the jealous pharaoh’s daughter, to shatter this alliance. Performed for the first time in Paris at Palais Garnier in 1880, Aida was composed in 1869 by the Italian romantic master Giuseppe Verdi.

Here, Chaperon illustrated the dramatic end of this story: accused of treason and rejecting Amneris’s love, Radamès is sentenced to be immured alive in the crypt of the temple of Ptha. In the upper part, Amneris is shown begging the priests in vain while the lower part presents the crypt in which Radamès is enclosed. The curtain falls on a real bombshell: Aida breaks through the vault, falls on the soil and dies, reunited with her beloved.

Typically romantic because of its local colour and its dark composition, Chaperon’s decor encapsulates the decisive turning point in opera that ended the classic age. The minuscule characters, which are actually collages – a technique proper to Chaperon –, perfectly mingle in this Grand opera decor, somehow reminiscent of the Piranesi prisons, embodying the tragedy of their fate.

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Henry Cros 1840 Narbonne – Sèvres 1907 Portrait of a Lady

Encaustic painting on panel, 1874 Signed and dated lower left H. CROS CERIS IGNI RESOLUTIS PINXIT 1874 Size 57.5 x 47 cm Literature Henry Cros and Charles Henry, L’encaustique et les autres procédés de peinture chez les anciens : histoire

et technique, Paris, 1884; Henry Hawley, “Sculptures by Jules Dalou, Henry Cros, and

Medardo Rosso”, in The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 58, no. 7, 1971, pp. 199-209 Provenance Private collection, France

This is probably the most fascinating encaustic painting ever made by Henry Cros.

What is encaustic painting ? Such is the topic of Henry Cros 1884 publication L’encaustique et les autres procédés de peinture chez les anciens: histoire et technique. This antique technique, largely widespread during the Antiquity, had totally disappeared by the 19th century. It consists of adding coloured pigments to heated beeswax, in order to create a paste, which will then be applied to a wooden surface. This technique possesses several advantages such as allowing particular colours effects and presenting a remarkable long-lasting resistance. In his time, innovative researches by Cros caused him to rediscover and re-enact the encaustic technique1. As Cros summarized it: « La peinture à l’encaustique ne s’écaille pas : elle ne peut s’altérer au soleil ou à la chaleur des appartements : la cire garantit le subjectile de l’humidité et des vers, elle attire très peu la poussière : enfin elle ne connait pas l’influence du temps. » In fact, Cros started investigating encaustic portraits found in Roman Egypt2. His interest indeed coincided

with the discovery of the Roman Egyptian portraits of the Fayoum’s necropolis (I-IV century AC), which occurred in the last quarter of the 19th century.

The Portrait of Lady is a perfect fulfilment of the encaustic painting. The Latin inscription reads “H. Cros painted with dissolved wax on the fire, 1874”. Possibly this very personal, delicate and deeply introspective portrait, on a neutral background, was inspired to the artist by the Fayoum’s portraits which give out this sort of mood. However, while the antique portraits are painted full face, the artist here chose to represent his modern model in profile, adding so a touch of privacy.

Very few of Cros encaustic portraits came to us. A portrait of the artist’s wife is kept at the Musée d’Orsay and one of his son at the Musée de Narbonne, both much smaller and somehow hieratic than the present work. There is also a record of a portrait of his friend José-Maria de Héredia, dated 1874, of unknown present location. The lady depicted here could be therefore a relative or a close friend to the artist, but there is no evidence yet, just suppositions.

1 This technical development was supported by the State at the time.

See Jean-Luc Olivié, « Un atelier et des recherches subventionnés par I’Etat : Henry Cros à Sèvres », in La sculpture du XIXe siècle, une mémoire retrouvée, Paris 1986, pp. 193-99.

2 Henry Hawley, op.cit., p. 202.

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Victor Paul Vignon 1847 Villers-Cotterêts – Meulan-en-Yvelines 1909 Still life with glass and onions

Oil on canvas, ca. 1880-85 Signed lower left V. Vignon Size 13.2 x 21.5 cm Exhibition New York, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Exhibition of paintings by Jean Peské and Victor Vignon 1847-1909, 1923;

Amsterdam, Kunsthandel Huinck & Scherjon N.V., Tentoonstelling Victor Vignon 1847-1909, 1938;

Pontoise, Musée Tavet-Delacour, Victor Vignon, 2002, no. 24 (ill.); Pontoise and Böblingen,

Musée Tavet-Delacour and Städtische Galerie, Camille Pisarro et les peintres de la vallée de l’Oise, 2003 Provenance Private collection, Belgium

Still included in the School of Barbizon by some art historians, Victor Paul Vignon lived and painted the best part of his life on the shores of the Seine and Oise rivers in the region Ilede-France, a popular spot for the Impressionist painters. He was known for his relatively small paintings, mainly of the surrounding landscapes, and a few but great still-life paintings, as the present one, in the 1880’s. In a way, the present work has nothing to do with the Barbizon style anymore or any influence of Corot, but it is fully in an impressionist line, with much delicacy and a kind of a charming vibration and fuzziness.

Under his influence, his style slowly changed towards a more modern look. He counted many Impressionist artists among his friends, such as Caillebotte, Monet, Degas, Sisley, Renoir, and Van Gogh. Between 1880 and 1886, he participated alongside them at Salon des Indépendants, and four times at the exhibitions of the impressionist painters, notably at the most important one in 1882.

Criticised for not being truly impressionist, he never gained the same reception or fame as his friends, but his work was and is very well appreciated by collectors. His work can be found in many public collections, as the Musée d’Orsay, Kunsthalle Bremen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Musée Faure in Aix-Les-Bains, Centraal Museum in Utrecht, and Singer Museum in Laren in The Netherlands.

He started his painting career as a pupil of Adolphe Cals, but moreover as a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Corot in 1869. A year later, he discovered the Oise Valley and befriended Pissarro.

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Edoardo Tofano 1838 Naples - Rome 1920 Woman on a balcony

Watercolour and gouache on wove paper, ca. 1880 Signed lower right E. Tofano Sheet 225 x 110 mm Provenance Ancienne Maison Goupil & C.ie, Boussod, Valadon & C.ie, Paris (label on the back);

Private collection, France

Woman on a balcony, even being part of the line introduced by Morelli, differs from Tofano’s paintings in its intimate nature and in its key use of colour. The twisting of the chair gives depth and movement to the image, together with the dark blue of the twilight sky and the light on the floor (from a raising moon?), both contributing to enlighten the evening scene.

Nothing can lead to a specific person, we cannot see her face, and the dress, as the scenery is generic. It is like an invitation to meditation, in an atmosphere close to the emerging symbolist works. Moreover, Woman on a balcony seems to refer to the atmosphere of the writings of Gioacchino Toma (1836-1891), one of the major poets in Naples at the time.

The Neapolitan artist Edoardo Tofano gained an international success during the second part of the 19th century, although he is now rather known by specialists only. His style and some of his subjects were first clearly inspired by Domenico Morelli (1826-1901), a contemporary, influential painter and politician in Naples, but he soon became strongly appraised for his own design, woman portraits, which allowed him to have a tremendous success among the bourgeoisie in London and Paris. In 1864, at the age of 26, he signed a contract with the Galerie Goupil in Paris and Bordeaux, which spread his work through Europe. He was then notably patronized by British collectors.

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Jean-Louis Forain 1852 Reims – Paris 1931 At the Opera

Watercolour, ink and pencil on laid paper, ca. 1879-85 Dedicated lower right a M d’Emouray [?] / amicalement, and signed forain Sheet 242 x 330 mm Provenance Private collection, Belgium

A spectacular composition about the Parisian fauna at the Opera, Forain’s favourite subject. It was Edgar Degas who brought him to the theatre in 1878. The older artist shared with the young one his passion for this world of representation.

But Forain was more fascinated by another show: the one happening in the shadow, behind the scene and in the public, the one of the closed circle of rich men, benefactors of the Ballet and Opera, regular customers of the show life.

Through his depiction, in which older men seduced young and poor dancers or singers, Forain offered a critical view of his contemporary’s mores. In At the Opera, the composition focuses on a couple: the man is sleeping, small, in the shadows, while the woman, elegant and taller, in the foreground seems to hide her face behind her hand. Observing the power game and its tension in such a couple, Forain created scenes that makes one think: is she ashamed to be seen with this man? Is she smiling and mocking him? Forain made several sketches of men sleeping during the show, caricaturing these patrons in such ridicule positions.

the woman’s silhouette, surrounding her pale face and white glove. Such as Degas, Forain created luminous effects, using the artificial lighting of the theatre to play with contrasts.

He also learned from the impressionist master, how to use a photographic framing to animate a composition: the couple seems to have been photographed without its knowledge, in an embarrassing moment.

Invited by Degas in 1879, he participated at four exhibitions of the Impressionist group. However, he possessed a unique style: less interested by landscapes, his work is characterized by his scathing sense of humour and caricatural vision, two qualities that oriented him towards a career as press cartoonist. Balanced between his attraction for Parisian crowd, and his critical sentiment towards it, Forain represented in his works a complex world, full of irony. At the Opera is a testimony of this artist’s outstanding perception. It is not surprising that Henri de Toulouse Lautrec affirmed to a journalist in 1891: « Je ne suis d’aucune école. Je travaille dans mon coin. J’admire Degas et Forain » [I belong to no school, I work in my corner. I admire Degas and Forain] 1.

Forain had a very dark vision of this Parisian crowd, and used an expressive technique to illustrate it. The background in red and black is painted with assertive brush strokes. This red void between the two characters, trapped in this closed box, reflects the distance between them. The shadow encloses

To be sold with a certificate of authenticity from Mme Valdes Forain.

1 Quoted in Danièle Devynck, Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, 2003, p. 33.

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Claude Émile Schuffenecker 1851 Fresne-Saint-Mamès – Paris 1934 Landscape with cliffs

Pastel and white chalk on laid paper, ca. 1887-92 Stamp of the studio lower left ES Sheet 420 x 550 mm Provenance Private collection, France

This virtuous pastel posits the cliff as the central element, standing firmly in a rough Breton landscape which dissolves itself into an indeterminate depth. The artistic ingenuity of Schuffenecker is reflected in a way the colour of the cardboard was used as a binding midtone evoking a mystic atmosphere.

The crown of the trees and bushes is formed by green and purple line patterns, while white chalk adds the suggestion of movement, like a colour fountain. In contrast, the cliff incorporates an element of timeless tranquility and stability. The spontaneous sketchy lines and the desire to capture the experience of the moment establishes Schuffenecker as an authentic impressionist.

were made in Normandy. The use of trickling lines of pastels is clearly a technique in Schuffenecker’s oeuvre dated between 1887 and 1892. Some of the Normandy works were even showed in the summer 1889 at the famous exhibition at Le Café Volpini, during the Exposition Universelle in Paris. On the contrary, in and around Pont-Aven (Brittany), he was much more focused on figures and folklore than on landscapes.

Schuffenecker was pretty close to Paul Gauguin – from 1872 when they worked together as accountant at Bertin’s – and then naturally to Émile Bernard, Paul Sérusier and Charles Laval. Contrary to the idea sometimes met that he was assigned a rather marginal role, Schuffenecker was one of the driving forces behind this ensemble. « Le bon Schuff » – as they used to call him – enjoyed great respect from his fellow artists because of his early participation in important impressionist exhibitions and his extended personal network in the world of arts. However, while most of these artists evolved to a kind of synthesis of reality, the so-called synthesism, Schuffenecker remained true to a more traditional impressionist idiom, with a lot of poetry.

It is hardly difficult to say if the present work depicts an existing place or not. The subject could be a cliff in the countryside, e.g. Franche Comté where he travelled, but is most likely situated on the coastal region of Normandy or of Brittany. The artist spent various stays in both locations, but most of the time in Normandy, between Etretat, Yport and Le Havre, from 1885 on, and a few times with Gauguin and other artists. Many of his views of cliffs or of his marine landscapes

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József Rippl-Rónai 1861 – Kaposvár – 1927 La Rousse

Pastel on wove paper laid down on canvas, 1891 Signed and dated lower centre J. Rippl-Ronai 1891 Size 381 x 308 mm Literature Caroline Boyle-Turner, Les Nabis, Lausanne, 1993, p. 136 Provenance Private collection, Switzerland

Nabis for their first exhibition at the Le Barc de Bouteville gallery, henceforth receiving the nickname of Le Nabis hongrois [The Hungarian Nabi]. First focused on figures, Rippl-Rónai then also dabbled in plein-air genre and, in the 20th century, ended up trying to also tackle decorative arts in Hungary. The artist’s painting was in continuous evolution throughout his career, and he is now considered as a major figure at the turn of the 19th century.

A very captivating and unusual portrait by the Hungarian József Rippl-Rónai.

After a degree in pharmacology in Budapest, Rippl-Rónai moved in 1884 to Munich to study at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste for three years, and then he travelled to Paris in 1887 to join the Mihály Munkácsy’s workshop, the most important Hungarian realist painter at the time. At the beginning of the 1890’s, he decided to pull away from Munkácsy’s influence, and to elaborate, in Paris, his own style, notably linked to some paintings he produced in Munich: pastels with foggy colours representing women. La Rousse was created in this vein, a female figure perceived in the midst of a misty decor.

In the present work, the taste for feminine profiles surrounded by sfumato is a reminiscence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement that his friend James Pitcairn-Knowles made him discover.

This ‘blur’ was also present in the art of Whistler, Eugène Carrière and Albert Besnard, whom Rippl-Rónai knew well.

This work seems to claim a strong symbolist appearance ; however it might also be devoid of esoteric dimensions.

Rejecting any doctrine, Rippl-Rónai took the genre of portrait as representation of women as elegant, sensual, seductive or even crazy beings.

At that time in Paris, the artistic scene was flourishing with new pictorial trends. Rippl-Rónai works were greatly influenced by his relationship with artists from all horizon, particularly Gauguin, de Toulouse-Lautrec, Denis, who considerably enriched his aesthetic production. In 1893, he exhibited with the

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Ker-Xavier Roussel 1867 Lorry-lès-Metz – L’Étang-la-Ville 1903 Virgin Mary on a path

Tempera on canvas, ca. 1890-92 Stamped initials lower right kxr Size 54 x 37 cm Literature Jeanne Stump, The art of Ker-Xavier Roussel, Kansas, 1972, fig. 12, pp. 60-61; Sophie Monneret,

L’Impressionnisme et son époque, Paris, 1978; George L. Mauner, The Nabis: Their history and their art

1888-1896, New-York, 1978, p. 228; Gisela Götte, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Untersuchungen zu seiner

Entwicklung vor allem zum Verhältnis Frühwerk-Spätwerk, Brême, 1982, pp. 164-68;

Claire Freches-Thory & Antoine Terrasse, Les Nabis, Paris, 1990, p. 70 (ill.);

Claude Jeancolas, La peinture des Nabis, Paris, 2002, p. 166 (ill.)

Exhibition Paris, Galerie Maratier, K-X Roussel, 1944, no. 160; London, Galerie Wildenstein, K-X Roussel,

1964, no. 1 (ill.); Brême, Kunsthalle Bremen, K-X Roussel, 1965, no. 9 (ill.); Münich, Haus

der Kunst, Vuillard-Roussel, 1968, no. 199 (ill.); Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Vuillard-Roussel,

1968, no. 206 (ill.); Londres; Liverpool, Arts Council of Great Britain, Hayward Gallery;

Walker Art Gallery, French Symbolist Painters, 1972, no. 305 (ill.); Madrid, Barcelone,

Museo Espanol de Arte Contemporaneo, El Simbolismo en la Pintura Francesa, 1972, no. 243 (ill.);

Tokyo, Niigata, Osaka, Yamaguchi, Gauguin et les Nabis, 1990-91, no. XIII-2, p. 94 (ill.);

Zürich, Kunsthaus, Die NABIS, Propheten der Moderne, 1993, no. 85 (ill.); Paris, Galeries

nationales du Grand Palais et Musée d’Orsay, NABIS 1988-1900, 1993-94, no. 85 (ill.);

Musée de Pont-Aven, Ker-Xavier Roussel, le Nabi bucolique, 2011, no. 22, p. 9 (détail) et p. 75 (ill.)

Provenance Jacques Roussel, artist’s grand-son; his sale, Enghien, 13 April 1986, no. 25;

Private collection, France, acquired at the above sale

Certainly, one of the most important and key paintings by Ker-Xavier Roussel, and even from his early Nabi years, but with a very strong Symbolism impact. In 1890-92, the mystic philosophy was discussed everywhere in the Nabis circle, through many ways and especially around Denis and Gauguin.

Part of this group, Roussel was then strongly drawn to subjects inspired by religion and philosophy. The exploration for essential forms, inspired by Gauguin, is here visible in the extremely stylized silhouette of the Virgin and the refined background. Compared to the usual bright palette of Nabis’s works, Roussel composed here a calm chromatic harmony with a strong matt effect. Almost like a fresco, this work possesses the charm of 14th century Italian murals irradiating a golden luminous atmosphere, almost sacred. This was pretty

unusual at the time. With such painting, he left his mark on symbolism as Jeanne Stump describes in her book about the artist: “La Vierge au Sentier [...] is The female type which became the ‘Art Nouveau woman’ - a concoction of sinuous lines and shadows, both spiritualized and sensual, but always remote and divorced from the real world.”

This major painting demonstrates the close relationship between Roussel and Maurice Denis, especially around the years 1890’s. The same idealistic feminine figures, the same delicate palette, and the same attraction for spiritual subjects.

The sinuous path, also present in Denis’ works, is a symbol of the trail Christian souls must take to reach the union with God.

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Norbert Goeneutte 1854 Paris – Auvers-sur-Oise 1894 Still life with plums

Watercolour on wove paper, ca. 1893 Signed on the upper right N Goeneutte Sheet 110 x 200 mm Provenance Private collection, Belgium

A rare and lovely example of Norbert Goeneutte’s talent in the still-life genre, and a testimony of Edouard Manet’s influence. A close friend of Henri Guérard who married Manet’s model and pupil, Eva Gonzales, Goeneutte was surrounded by a milieu of brilliant personalities, including Renoir – who portrayed him in several works – Degas and many impressionists. However, Goeneutte, such as Manet’s circle, always kept one’s distance with the impressionist group. He had a strong attachment to the painting style of Manet, and it is probably why he did not wish to be associated with this avant-garde movement in the 1880-90’s.

painted together and influenced each other in the process.

This watercolour shows similarities with Gonzalès’ works, such as the harmony, the elegance of the brush strokes and the simplicity of the composition. Goeneutte also developed his own style, visible here in the way he created such ingenious contrasts. On the left side, he painted the plum with only a few dashes, leaving the paper visible. In opposition, the plum on the right side shows a density of colour, with dark purple, highlighted by blue touches on the top. The eye goes from one side to the other, transported by a calculated rhythm of shadows and lights.

Still life with plums is a classical composition, and if the technique is innovative, the overall effect reminds us of Dutch Old Masters. The tension between modernity and tradition also characterized Manet’s work, such as in his own Stilllife with plums, now at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

Goeneutte was not only following in the footsteps of Manet, he had an inspiring relationship with Eva Gonzalès. They

In 1891, the famous Dr. Gachet diagnosed Goeneutte with heart disease and advised him to settle in Auvers-sur-Oise.

The painter moved with his family to the house of the engraver Martinez, and died in 1894 when he was forty years old.

His short career explained the small numbers of works by Goeneutte in French public collections, and their rarity on the market.

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Auguste Donnay 1862 Liège – Jette 1921 Hamadryade

Pastel, crayon Conté on wove paper, 1898 Signed and dated lower right Aug. Donnay 1898 Sheet 532 x 345 mm Provenance Private collection, Germany

The Belgian symbolist Auguste Donnay was a discreet figure, lesser known than other Belgian masters such as Félicien Rops, Fernand Khnopff or Xavier Mellery. However, he produced a large ensemble of works, from paintings and drawings to book illustrations and prints. His close friend Albert Mockel was a major figure of the symbolist scene in Liège, who also founded journals and art magazines. He then encouraged Donnay to produce drawings and illustrations. In 1896 and 1898, the artist contributed to the Almanach des poètes by designing their covers as well as by twelve illustrations, one for each month. Through these illustrations, dated from the same year as Hamadryade, Donnay demonstrated his interest for mystic figures associated with Nature: Fauns, nymphs and melancholic women leaning on trees. A preliminary drawing for the cover shows an owl and a woman whose hairs are tangling around a branch of a tree (Cabinet des Estampes et Dessins, Liège).

themselves into the wood of the trunk and the branches and her skin imitate the colour of the trees surrounding her.

Félicien Rops depicted the same subject in a drawing of 1888, also entitled Hamadryades (Musée Rops, Namur). If Rops’s drawing is more sensuous, the similarities between the two works are noticeable. The artist Armand Rassenfosse, Donnay’s childhood friend, introduced him to Rops in 1892.

Donnay admired the charismatic artist, and asked for his advice in their correspondence. Was Donnay directly inspired

by Rops’s Hamadryades or was the subject an evidence for an artist fascinated by women and trees? This present sheet can also be directly linked to a print by Donnay (unfortunately not dated), entitled Hamadryades: Spring (Cabinet des Estampes et Dessins, Liège). There are two hamadryades represented in the print (such as in Rops’s drawing), but the principal feminine silhouette has the exact same position as in our drawing; her head hidden behind her left arm, and her bust leaning to the right. The comparison of the two works, of different techniques, also reveals the importance of these undulated and sinuous lines used by Donnay, which evoke the vegetal imagery of the Art Nouveau movement.

Woman and tree are a significant theme in his oeuvre. For him, the feminine figure was always associated with Earth and Nature. He saw it as a symbol of life, always around and assimilated with vegetation. The Hamadryade is half humanhalf tree: the arms and legs of the woman extend and transform

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Charles Maurin 1856 Le Puy-en-Velay – Grasse 1914 Portrait

Pastel on wove paper, ca. 1900 Sheet 405 x 475 mm Literature Gilles Grandjean, Charles Maurin, un symboliste du réel, Le Puy-en-Velay, 2006 Provenance Private collection, The Netherlands

Women are the major theme that one encounters when studying Maurin work. Whether it be in realistic scenes, allegorical drawings given to anarchist journals, or in his symbolist paintings, Maurin has a distinctive approach in representing women. This aesthetic regularity must be attributed, in part, to the frequent use of specific models, most notably the artist’s wife, Eugénie Debray. In this portrait, we find the main characteristics of the woman of Maurin: strong facial features, a lustrous set of hair – usually red – methodically combed (even when they are entangled), shown in dreamlike state, mysterious and sensitive, even spiritual in their simplicity. This alternate version of the Pre-Raphaelite woman combining symbolism with everyday life and realism made the use of pastel rather logical, at least in the way Maurin employed it.

If the colours are quite powerful, they are tempered by the vaporous aspect of the material, creating harmonious lighting, strange and elusive impressions in association with mostly simple and straightforward themes. The hairs are flowing, dark red, like many of the artist’s paintings at the end of the 19th century. The position of the woman is also noticeable as she seems to emerge from the bottom right corner of the frame, apparently naked or with no distinctive piece of clothing. The way Maurin drew the lower part of the pastel with shapes resembling watery surroundings like a small river or a pond, also links the drawing to more symbolistic representations.

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Louis Legrand 1863 Dijon – Livry-Gargan 1951 Dancer

Pen and ink on wove paper, ca. 1901 Signed lower right Leg Sheet 295 x 193 mm Literature Eugène Ramiro and Louis Legrand, Faune Parisienne, Paris, 1901, p. 77 (ill.)

Provenance Private collection, The Netherlands

This rare and radiant drawing is a study for one of the illustrations for his book with Erastène Ramiro, Faune Parisienne, published by Gustave Pellet in 1901. More precisely, for the chapter ironically entitled Les Rats. The girl here depicted seems to have nothing to do with the caustic title of Ramiro, but with Legrand’s great passion and mastery about the world of ballet.

Like Degas, he spent a lot of time in the rehearsal rooms of dancers exercising, resting, or getting dressed.

which put Legrand onstage, and above all encouraged him to depict the world of dancing. He then illustrated in 1892 Le Cours de Danse Fin de Siecle with a revised text by Ramiro, Les Petites du Ballet in 1893, and the Faune Parisienne in 1901 with Ramiro again.

This drawing is inventive. With a few brushes of ink, he created a lively silhouette, with a true impact. Such as Degas, Legrand induced and captured an impression of movement with the inversed feet of the ballerina: she is ready to turn, and puts her body in motion in a pirouette. The publisher of Faune Parisienne, Gustave Pellet, was Legrand’s most active promoter, but also an avid collector of Degas works.

During three decades, Pellet published almost three hundred original etchings and drypoints by the artist. Then close to Steinlen and the Montmartre circle, Legrand became famous for his depiction of scenes in bars, cafes, and other turn-ofthe-century meeting places, but his little dancers, soberly realized, remain the most original part of his oeuvre.

A painter and printmaker who can be counted among the finest practitioners of the technique of etching during the Finde-siècle period, Legrand came to meet Ramiro via Félicien Rops, his teacher. Under his spell, Legrand realized a work entitled Prostitution, that brought Legrand to be taken to court for obscenity. Rops asked his friend, the lawyer Eugène Rodrigues to defend him, and they became friends. Rodrigues, under the pseudonym Erastène Ramiro, was also a brilliant writer, and he asked Legrand to illustrate his article about the Cancan dance in Gil Blas. This publication was a great success,

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Alphonse Osbert 1857 – Paris – 1939 Autumn’s evening

Oil on panel, 1901 Signed and dated lower right A. Osbert 1901; signed, titled and dated on the back Soir d’automne, A. Osbert, 1901; and autographed lower right à M.lle Lejeune, respectueux souvenir Size 30 x 50 cm Véronique Dumas, A. Osbert. Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre complet, vol. IV, 1999, no. 2089, Reference

p. 687 (ill.); Registre Alphonse Osbert, no. 180 (sealing wax and labels n. 180) Provenance Gift from the artist to Mademoiselle Lejeune for her wedding on July 11th, 1901;

Private collection, France

This fine and charming work is a top-end proof of Alphonse Osbert’s ability to blend different ways into his own style.

At the time and since his first exhibitions in the 1890’s, Osbert was esteemed by the critics, praising « sa finesse de l’atmosphère et l’observation des perspectives aériennes »1.

Nevertheless, his role in the Symbolist movement has only been recognized recently. However, his beginnings were more in the neo-impressionist approach, certainly due to his friendship with Georges Seurat, whom he met in the studio of Lehmann. He first followed this way, exhibiting at the Salon from 1881, being part of the Comité des Artists independents, together with Seurat, Luce and Signac. But step by step, he moved to Symbolism, especially through his participation to the Rose + Croix exhibitions.

The influence of Puvis de Chavannes, Armand Point and Belgian artists such as William Degouve de Nuncques became stronger.

He even exhibited in Brussels in 1899, at Salon de l’art religieux.

A year later, the artist was highly praised at the Exposition Internationale of 1900, where he won the bronze medal for Poème du soir, now at the Musée d’Evreux. The present Soir d’Automne was painted just after this achievement. It was most probably contemporary to the monumental decorations of the Villa Douchka in Vichy, with which Soir d’Automne shares serenity and meditation. Trees are an essential component of Osbert’s production, see Le Mystère de la nuit (1897), Sérénité (1901), Le Calme de l’eau (1895). They assumed symbolic meanings in line with the synthetic revolution of Gauguin and the Nabis. As well, the mountain is a symbolist topos, here represented in its horizontal, declining shape, generating a peaceful emotional state. Overall, Osbert’s style is unique in many ways, especially recognizable from its sublime atmospheric textures, its colour simplification and use, rich of shades of blue and yellow.

1 Hippolyte Fierens-Gevaert, in L’Indépendence belge, Decembre 15, 1894,

quoted in Véronique Dumas, Le peintre symboliste Alphonse Osbert (18571939), CNRS, Paris, 2005, p. 62.

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Edmund Steppes 1873 Burghausen – Deggendorf 1968 Thistle

Watercolour, pencil and ink on laid paper, 1915 Signed and dated EdSt / 1915 Sheet 278 x 185 mm Provenance Private collection, Germany

This wonderful sheet is one of the best example of Edmund Steppes’ artistic ideals. A major artist who, as a disciple of the romantic tradition, broke with the modernist tendencies of the early 20th century. As a young artist, Steppes became enthralled with mysticism, folk nationalism and focus on shapes of German romantic art. The evocation of pure beauty throughout sceneries in which nature plays a primary role constitutes a recurring theme during his entire career. The present work attests to a clear influence by Friedrich Olivier and Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, who were both fascinated by the natural shapes of plants and leaves. In their meticulously detailed botanical drawings, Olivier and Schnorr von Carolsfeld were themselves inspired by the copper engravings of the German art’s founding fathers: Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer. While these focused their attention on the symbolic figure behind the object, artists like Steppes were

mainly drawn to the aesthetic challenge mixed with romantic inspirations.

As such, the decorative quality of this thistle inspired Steppes. With sharp, fine lines and a very subtle play of grey tones, he livens up the spines, veins and curvatures of the thistle using a special technique of pencil and feather. A remarkably harmonious composition supports the stylized beauty, with the thistle’s flower crowning the almost mirrored halves of the plant. In choosing to portray the thistle as dried and withered, Steppes follows his fellow romantic artists. These contemporaries acknowledge the withering as a process of metamorphosis by which the pureness of the shape is revealed. Hence, they do not necessarily try to portray decay itself, but the fragile nature before a demise.

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Hermann Wöhler 1897 – Hannover – 1961 The Sun

Pen and black ink on paper, with an imaginary frame, ca. 1919 Monogram lower right in ink HW Sheet 460 x 358 mm Literature Bettina Greffrath, Hermann Wöhler, Märchenbilder: Beiträge und Katalog zur Ausstellung,

Hannover, Historisches Museum, 1987 Provenance Artist’s Estate Niedersachsen; Private collection, Germany

Hermann Wöhler work is one the best rediscoveries made from the German art of the 1920’s. Die Sonne is part of the virtual series Der Paraklet. Sieben Bilder aus den Tagen des Retters un zum Gedächtnis an den frühe Heimgegangenen [The Paraclete.

Seven images from the Days of the Saviours to the memory of the early deceased]. Influences were thereby the main protagonists of the 16th century. Danube School such as Albrecht Altdorfer and Wolf Huber, together with 19th century artists, like Philipp Otto Runge and its ornamental symbolism, and mainly Hugo Hoeppener, known as Fidus, whose work combined mysticism, eroticism and allegory, and who had been Wöhler’s teacher. The present work displays an impressive strength in describing the relentless fight between light and darkness expressed here as the unsuccessful attempts of the claws of the shadows to quench the light of the sun that remains inextinguishable.

Wöhler worked in black and white, producing elaborate large-scale drawings in pen and ink. In 1918 his first work was a portfolio of seven large ink compositions, plus a title page, under the title Zwielicht: Sieben Sinnbilder / Erste Geschichte des Erwachenden Schicksals vor dem Licht [Twilight: Seven Symbols / The First History of the Awakening Fate of Light], and he then pursued in creating series of sizeable ink drawings throughout the 1920’s. The so-called series were often not a precise program at the beginning of the process, and most of them have not been kept together, which make somehow difficult to size its meaning.

These fantastic drawings are very rare to find. From 1934 until his death in 1961, Wöhler served as a Professor of art at the Pädagogischen Kunsthochschule in Hanover. His long career as an art teacher largely precluded him from selling or exhibiting his own work, and his oeuvre was completely unknown to the public during his lifetime. Later in his career, Wöhler turned towards fairy-tale themes, producing tempera paintings of such subjects, for the most part executed in the 1940’s, as a reaction to the horrors of war.

It was not until 1987, that the first exhibition of Wöhler’s work was mounted, at the Historischen Museum in Hanover.

In January 2015, the Deutsches Märchen und Wesersagenmuseum held an exhibition of sixty paintings, commemorating the acquisition by the museum, from his heirs, of over two hundred works.

The young Hermann Wöhler started studying in his native Hanover, and then at the Kunstgewerbeakademie in Dresden and at the Staatlichen Kunsthochschule in Berlin, where he was named in 1923 Akademischer Zeichenlehrer, i.e. drawing teacher. An intellectual man, Wöhler was well-versed in German art, history, philosophy and classical literature, as well as in Oriental and Eastern religions, Gnosticism and the Kabbalah. From the start of his career, Wöhler did indeed take his subjects from the German mythology and literature, but transforming then in striking works characterized by bizarre imagery and imaginative compositions.

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Recent sales

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Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri 1782 Saint-Cloud – Saint-Chéron 1868 Project for the opera Moses and Pharaoh

Watercolour and gouache on wove paper, ca. 1827 Signed with pencil lower right Ciceri Sheet 60 x 80 mm Provenance Private collection, France

An exceptional drawing and miniature by Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri, who conceived a monumental decor on this precious little sheet. Nominated official painter of the Académie Impériale de musique in 1809, Ciceri created sumptuous decor for the Opéra de Paris, and contributed to fully renovate the decoration of the stage at the Opéra. In 1810, he married Alexandrine Isabey, daughter of the renowned artist JeanBaptiste Isabey who had a strong influence on Ciceri, notably about Egyptian capricci. Two Ciceri drawings kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, representing Memphis with its temple and colossal sculptures, were clearly inspired by Isabey’s work for the ballet The Prodigual Son, produced in Paris by Henri Montan Berton and PierreGabriel Gardel in 1812. The size of the present piece recalls that Isabey was also a miniaturist.

horizon created by the succession of temples and buildings descending towards a majestic column. Furthermore, at the end of this first act, Moses plunges Egypt into darkness. The study reflects this dramatic event: two black clouds, such as gigantic claws, surround the sun and will soon imprison its light. Thin lines of blue sky are disappearing at the horizon while the mountains are already captured by the shadow.

In the last scene of Act I, when Pharaoh broke his promise, Moses threatened him: « Tremblez tremblez bientôt la foudre meurtrière sur l’Egypte éclatera ». At the end of the scene, the chorus sings: « Oh jour affreux. Le Ciel se couvre d’un voile affreux ». Ciceri expressed the approaching threat with a proper delicacy: composing this harmony of grey, and confronting the menacing and vigorous sky with the immutable mountains and architecture. The imperial palace seems small and fragile compared to the heaven fury. A spectacular gem in a very small format, like a photographic one. For this reason, we could not help thinking about his close collaboration with Louis-Jacques Daguerre, inventor of the diorama and the Daguerreotype.

In 1827, Ciceri realized his own Egyptian scenery for the opera Moses and Pharaoh composed by Gioachino Rossini and presented in Paris the same year. This mesmerizing sheet was most probably a study for the decor of Act I. An illustration of Ciceri’s set by Auguste Caron (Bibliothèque Nationale de France) shows in the background the same diagonal

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Jean Marie Auguste Jugelet 1805 Brest – Rouen 1874 Dieppe

Oil on paper, ca. 1850 Signed lower right A Jugulet Sheet 217 x 315 mm Provenance Thierry Buscail, France; Private collection, France

This figurative maritime scene is a view from the beach at Dieppe, a French town in the northern part of Normandy, with its rocks and cliffs at the left of the city. It was painted ca. 1850, at the transition between romanticism and realism, and this is obvious in the context of years of traditions in the field of maritime art. Two of the main inspirations for Jugelet’s work were his teacher and seascape painter Théodore Gudin, who was the first official painter of the French Navy; and Gustav Courbet for his extensive views of French beaches.

The present oil on paper, executed three years after the artist was made Knight of the Legion of Honour for his work on French ports, shows the attractive Jugelet’s dexterity in colour, textures and shapes.

The use of browns and greys for the agitated sea is an accurate choice to represent the silt infused waves of the English Channel and/or the North Sea by rough sea. The painting shows an interesting play of textures: fine lines of different colours intermix at the bottom of the frame to give the beautiful illusion of transparency and clarity, in sharp contrast with the use of clots of white paint for the foam of the waves colliding with the central rock. Finally, the whole piece is dominated by the omnipresence of movement whether it is the lines and shapes of the waves, the various layers of the stormy clouds, the birds and even the little boat.

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Francis Brooks Chadwick 1850 Boston – Grez-sur-Loing 1942 Portrait of a woman in profile possibly the artist’s wife Emma Löwstädt Pencil on laid paper, ca. 1885 Signed in ink lower left FChadwick With the artist studio stamp lower right, printed in red Sheet 360 x 265 mm Private collection, Paris Provenance

A powerful and melancholic portrait by the artist. Francis Brooks Chadwick who was among the most innovative figures of the American painting at the end of the 19th century.

He was notably one of the first American painters discovering and assimilating the aesthetics of the impressionist movement in France. From Boston where he studied at Harvard, Chadwick pursued his studies in 1870-81 at the Academy Julian in Paris, where he had the opportunity to be taught painting by professors like Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefèbvre. In the same time, he got acquainted with John Singer Sargent, and their friendship led to journeys of discoveries and learning. But the most important journey for Chadwick was undoubtedly the travel which led him with

Sargent to a small village located at about twenty kilometres from Barbizon: Grez-sur-Loing, an important artists’ colony, where he spent almost all his professional career and was the most established figure.

Although the landscape painting of Grez set a large part of his artistic production, the portrait nevertheless remained a genre that he used to appreciate quite intensely. The present sheet might be the portrait of the artist’s wife Emma Löwstädt, born Swedish. He met her early in Grez-sur-Loing. Another portrait of her painted by Chadwick – later but certainly early in the 20th century – shows many similarities, the long hair, the eyebrows, nose and chin.

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Charles Laval 1862 Bordeaux – Paris 1894 Breton Girls Resting

Gouache, water colour, chalk and pencil on thin board, 1889 Signed and dated lower right C Laval 1889 Sheet 490 x 630 mm Literature Bertrand Frelaut, La Merveilleuse Bretagne des Peintres, Genève, 2005, p. 95 (ill.);

Arthur Ellridge, Gauguin et les Nabis, Paris, 2001, p. 44 (ill.)

Exhibition Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum of Art and Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art,

Gauguin et l’Ecole de Pont-Aven, 1993, p. 47, no. 26 (ill.); Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales,

Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School, 1994, p. 143, no. 84 (ill.); Indianapolis, Museum of Art; Baltimore,

Walters Art Gallery; Montréal, Museum of Fine Arts; Memphis, Dixon Gallery-Gardens;

San Diego, Museum of Art; Portland, Art Museum and Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Gauguin

and the School of Pont-Aven, 1994-97, p. 116, no. 84 (ill.); Paris, Musée du Luxembourg and Quimper,

Musée des Beaux-Arts, L’Aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin, 2003, pp. 186-87, no. 58 (ill.)

Provenance Maurice Savin, Paris; François Zunini, Chilly-Mazarin (France);

Private collection, Switzerland; thence by heirs

Certainly, one of the most beautiful and intriguing works

by Charles Laval, but also one from the very rare corpus by Charles Laval, and even more from his works when he was in Brittany. Only ten pieces have survived from this period.

Breton Girls resting is an important testimony of Laval’s stay in Brittany when his art was evolving hand in hand with Paul Gauguin’s emulation.

Following to diseases and disappointment, Laval came back to Brittany in June 1888, a few months after Gauguin, and painted again. According to Emile Bernard, those months were rather non-productive for Laval and he was sick again, with tuberculosis. He however produced one of his masterworks, Allant au marché (Indianapolis Museum of Art); and Van Gogh asked Laval for a self-portrait painting (Van Gogh Museum).

But 1889 was more successful, and he could exhibit ten works in June at the founding and celebrated exhibition at Café Volpini in Paris. Six were works from Martinique, while Gauguin only exhibit one work from this period. The historian Clement Siberchicot has brilliantly demonstrated how Gauguin strategically worked to seem being the only initiator of the Synthetism and the new art, and to diminish Laval and Bernard role (see Clement Siberchicot, L’Exposition Volpini, 1889, Paris, 2010, pp. 105-20). Nevertheless, Laval with Gauguin and Bernard set so the base of the Synthetism, and a virulent and planned opposition to the neo-impressionism.

The young Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Sérusier and Paul Ranson converted to the ideas defended by the trio, and later founded the Nabis.

Today, the Laval name remains mainly known and famous among the specialists of the 19th century art, in spite of the fact that his key role and influence along with his friend Gauguin at the very early stage of the Synthetism was absolutely predominant. The young man had first studied in the studio of Léon Bonnat, and later with Fernand Cormon. In 1886, Laval travelled to Pont-Aven with Puigaudeau, and he met Gauguin at the Pension Gloanec. They immediately became very close friends. They then jointly decided to look for inspiration overseas, and travelled together to Panama and Martinique in 1887. Specialists wholly agree that the Martinique works

by Laval were in a way ahead of those by Gauguin, like his Femme de la Martinique (Musée d’Orsay). Gauguin was literally fascinated by the Laval works, as he wrote in 1888 to Vincent and Theo Van Gogh: « C’est de l’art » (28 July 1888). It even turned out that after Laval’s death, some of his paintings of the Martinique landscapes were attributed to Gauguin.

The present masterwork features two Breton girls resting or taking a siesta in traditional regional costume. One young woman appears lying face down on the grass, her two naked 64

feet tenderly huddled together. The other one is seated, facing away from the viewer, with her right hand hiding her face.

Her attitude, like a melancholia between sleep, interiority or sorrow, and the detail of two wooden shoes that echoed the position of each girl, arouse lots of different stories. This art of creating narratives is one of the first characteristics of the artist. An additional one is the dense, saturated composition.

Without any skyline, the softness of the atmosphere is only conveyed by the faint indications of green and yellow pastel, and the curved lined that form a kind of vegetal nest for the young girls. Laval animated the composition with a singular balance between the delicate colours and the imbrication of the multiple curves, all emphasizing the almost abstract qualities of the decorative effects.

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Sir George Clausen 1852 London – Newbury 1944 Young washerwomen

Watercolour and white body colour on thick laid paper, ca. 1890 Signed lower right with initial G.C. Sheet 155 x 235 mm Provenance Private collection, England

George Clausen had a predilection for rural scenes in which he portrayed the common people during daily activities. This superb work by his hand, pictures children doing the dishes on a jetty on the bank of a river. One of them looks straight ahead, seemingly posing for the artist. There is little pleasure or interaction during their chore, echoing the hard life of these people.

created by altering the detail level in front, middle and back of the painting. The figures in the foreground are depicted realistically due to their precise contours and the contrasts between the parts of their clothes. When moving somewhat further to the back of the painting, the figures coming down the staircase become somewhat blurred and resemble more to a sketch. Finally, in the background the houses are reduced to their most essential form. In a play between grey and white areas, they are of an almost cubist nature, while giving a certain rhythm to the composition.

The technique and composition illustrate great inventiveness.

As an English artist, Clausen belonged to a strong tradition of watercolourists. This drawing was made using a mixed technique of gouache or white bodycolour and watercolour.

On top of a white base layer, one can successively find yellow ocher, black and a strong white pigment. Because of this layered process, the present work exhibits special textures, exemplified in the folds of the clothes, the ripples in the water and the roughness of the jetty wood.

Clausen completed his endeavor of becoming an established English painter during his travels to Belgium, the Netherlands and Bretagne. During these travels, he developed a fascination for primitive, simple life. In 1895, at the age of 42, Clausen was chosen as an associate of the Royal Academy, where he then taught for many years. Especially in the Victorian era, this appointment attested a great academic recognition. Today, his oeuvre can be found in the most important British museums.

The composition features the bank as a structuring element which brings a diagonal depth into the work. Depth is also

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Édouard Vuillard 1868 Cuiseaux – La Baule 1940 Seated Woman

Pastel on wove paper, ca. 1890 Atelier stamp lower right E. Vuillard (Lugt 2497a) Sheet 205 x 108 mm Reference Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, le regard innombrable, Catalogue critique des peintures

et pastels, Paris, 2003, vol. I, p. 113, no. II-69 (ill. p. 112) Provenance Artist’s studio; by heirs, Paris; Anonymous Sale, Loudmer & Poulain, Paris, 23 Oct. 1978, lot 159;

Grati Baroni de Piqueras, Paris; Anonymous Sale, Champion & Lombrail, Enghien-les-Bains,

17 April 1983, lot 52; Anonymous, Sotheby’s London, 27 June 1984, lot 323; Private collection, France

A delightful little drawing from Edouard Vuillard that remains deeply seductive. Combining the Synthetism of forms from the first Nabi’s period and his typical intimate scenes, the present Seated Woman is a fine example of the experimental approach of the artist. It conveys the strong aura of mystery melted with intimacy characteristic of much of Vuillard’s early work.

as in Woman mending (La ravaudeuse), an oil on cardboard from 1891 in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

It is worth mentioning the interesting provenance (after the heirs) around 1980’s: La Signora Grati Baroni de Piqueras.

Born in Italy, she married to Jorge de Piqueras in the fifties.

Peruvian born, Jorge has been one of the most important Peruvian sculptors of the 20th century. Together they lived mainly in Europe, between Cadaques and Paris, until they divorced in 1973. Very close to Dali and the Duchamps couple, to the Italian friends of Grati, Giacometti, Magnelli and Fontana, they were also together and later separately very clever collectors from many various periods, the surrealism, of course, but also the old masters from the 15th century, and 19th century painters. Not a large collection, but one built with great care and intuition.

The present study sketched on a small sheet of paper is drawn in bright – surely arbitrary – colours. Vuillard exploited all the luminous qualities of pastel. with simple shapes and strong cloisonnist outlines. The seated woman is essentially defined by the bright colours of her dress and the lineous attention to her bun without any distinguishable facial features. Like here, the artist loved to depict women working in their interior, the hand lost in the ruffled texture of their work

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Maurice Denis 1870 Granville – Paris 1943 Fire of seaweed in front of the sea at Le Pouldu

Tempera on paper, ca. 1892-99 Monogram lower right MAVD Sheet 980 x 460 mm Literature Denise Delouche, Maurice Denis et la Bretagne, Quimper, 2010, p. 22 (ill.);

Jérémie Cerman, Le papier peint Art Nouveau. Création, production, diffusion, Paris, 2012 Exhibition Morlais; Perros-Guirec, Musée de Morlais; Maison des Traouieros,

Maurice Denis à Perros-Guirec, 1985 Provenance The artist’s heirs; Antoine Laurentin, Paris; Private collection, France

Certainly, one of the best synthetic landscapes on paper from Maurice Denis’s Nabis and Symbolist period from 1889 to 1898. This composition of the Brittany shore does display the quality of abstraction and simplification that the precocious artist was able to reach, and that he partially inherited from Paul Gauguin. This radical and spectacular drawing recalls the sentence written by the same Denis nearly fifty years later about another famous landscape, Sérusier’s Le Talisman (Musée d’Orsay) shown to him in 1888: “… a landscape that way shapeless, by dint of the heavy influence of Synthetism” (« Paul Sérusier, sa vie, son oeuvre », in ABC de la Peinture, Paris, 1942, p. 42).

arabesques of the white smoke in the centre of the composition echo the lines of sand dunes and clouds. The decorative value is conveyed by the use of plastic means to transcend the apparent banality of the motif and create correspondences between the idea and a sensible form: the harmony of the four elements, earth, water, air and fire; the oneness of man with nature. The colour range of blue and orange melted with the mat effect of tempera creates a fullness of seascape. It is to be noted that the decorative approach is reinforced by the fact that Maurice Denis used the verso of a wall-paper, the abstract patterns of which can be felt through the paper. A technique and an inspiration from which we have very rare examples left.

Denis had followed Gauguin’s path in Brittany since 1892, mostly in Perros-Guirec and Le Pouldu, an even more secluded village than Pont-Aven. The painter fell in love with this area, and even later bought a villa on the beach of Le Pouldu, in 1908. The present landscape emphasizes a complete rejection of naturalism, what went far further than the Gauguin’s Les Ramasseuses de Varech of 1889 (Folkwang Museum), to take an example of the same depicted subject. In Denis’s almost abstract landscape, the inspiration is coming from the burning of algae on the beach, a source of iodine, used in agriculture, pharmacy and photography. The stylised

This piece is an example of Denis’s most famous aphorism: “A painting is essentially a plane surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order.” It is audacious in its application of the Synthetism’s aesthetic: flat surfaces of plain colour, a radical simplification of shapes, absence of perspective, influence of Japonism.

Claire Denis and Fabienne Stahl added the work to the catalogue raisonné in preparation.

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Charles Lacoste 1870 Floirac – Paris 1959 Bordeaux – La Rue Honoré Tessier

Oil on paper, 1895 Dated lower left 21 juillet 1895 Annotated on the back préparé au blanc d’argent seul, directement sur le papier le 13 janvier 1895 Sheet 170 x 190 mm Private collection, France Provenance

This cheerful work was painted by Charles Lacoste on a brightly lit summer day in July 1895, when the sun radiated on the roofs and facades of the narrow Rue Honoré Tessier, located in the historic centre of Bordeaux. Born in Gironde, Lacoste lived in Bordeaux until the end of the 1890’s. His oeuvre exhibits a fondness of flatness and a strife for synthesis, which both hint similarities with the Nabis artists. The atmosphere and colour palette of his works, however, was more akin to the symbolists. As such, he developed a mystical style which cannot be categorized under any historical art denominator.

Lacoste, whose mother was of English descent, made several trips to London from 1894. He was there inspired by the work of John Constable and J. M. W. Turner which he studied on recurrent visits to the National Gallery, and which influenced his own specific interest in capturing atmospheric effects in his landscapes.

composition of surfaces, looking for fleeting atmosphere during the day, such as at dawn, twilight, night with bright moon, and meteorological effects as fog and fumes. In the present work, the perspective is above the street level, focusing on the bright light vibrating on the surfaces while there is a clear absence of action. The iconography of facades and roofs recurred multiple times in Lacoste’s future oeuvre and provided the ideal subject to translate his artistic believes, clearly akin to the Symbolism.

Lacoste settled in Paris in 1899, and soon came under the wing of the philanthropist and patron Arthur Fontaine, who hosted one of the leading intellectual salons in the city. It was there that Lacoste met and became associated with such figures as the writers André Gide, Paul Claudel and Paul Valéry, the composers Claude Debussy and Darius Milhaud, and the artists Odilon Redon, Edouard Vuillard, Eugène Carrière and Maurice Denis. It was Gide who, in 1904, introduced Lacoste to the gallery owner Alphonse Eugène Druet, who exhibited his work until his death in 1916.

His article published in La Plume in 1897 was more than clear on his intention, when he entitled it La simplicité en peinture.

Lacoste translated everyday scenes into a two-dimensional

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Armand Guillaumin 1841 Paris – Orly 1927 Rocks at Goulphar, Belle-île

Pastel on laid paper, 1895 Signed and dated lower right Guillaumin 1895 Sheet 480 x 610 mm Reference Certificate of the Comité Guillaumin, dated 06.12.2014, signed by Dominique Fabiani,

Stéphanie Chardeau-Botteri, and Jacques de la Bereaudière Provenance Private collection, France

A beautiful pastel drawing by Armand Guillaumin characterized by its dense colours and direct strokes. It is a stunning example of the artistic milestone the artist experienced in the middle of the 1890’s. This coast, known as Port-Goulphar and located in the island of Belle-île-en-mer, was well-known among the impressionists, since Claude Monet had represented it a few years earlier, in 1886. However, Guillaumin was overall a landscape painter in the countryside, mostly in the South of France. Seascapes or coast views, and even more in Brittany, were very rare in his oeuvre, and the present work was done during his unique stay in Brittany, at Belle-Ile in 1895.

that of impressionists like Monet and Pissarro. Close to the latter and Cézanne, he had participated between 1874 and 1886 at every impressionist exhibition, and had frequented the avant-garde at the Café Guerbois. But, in the late 1880’s, he became a friend of Vincent van Gogh, and it appeared that this friendship had a profound and stimulating influence on the artist’s work. He strongly contributed to the foundations of the Post-impressionist movements and more particularly of the fauvism, which emerged a few years later.

It also reminds us somehow the powerful colours and patterns used by Degas for his various pastels over monotype of rocks and cliffs, presented at the DurandRuel exhibition in 1892. In a way, it is paradoxical when remembering that Degas criticised Guillaumin in the 1870’s. At this stage in 1895, Guillaumin then opted for more strength and intensity, and that transformation was pretty impressive.

The Monet approach was clearly impressionist, whereas Guillaumin used bright, expressive and contrasted colours, which became his genuine specificity and signature for the works produced from the end of the 1880’s, and even more after 1891. However, at the beginning his style was close to

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Hermann René Georges Paul, called Hermann-Paul 1864 Paris – Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer 1940 Shopping Watercolour, gouache and China ink on laid paper, 1895 Signed with black chalk lower left h. Paul; dated with pencil on the back 24 mai 1895 with an annotation 59 / 44 / Mr. Ecalard, and the number 28, and with the stamp of the sale of the artist’s studio Sheet 450 x 330 mm Claude Jeancolas, La Peinture des Nabis, Paris, 2002, p. 17 (ill.)

Literature Provenance Artist studio; by heirs; his sale, Galerie de Chartres, Chartres, 23 October 2000,

no. 51 (stamp on the back); Private collection, France

This striking composition is without doubt the finest work drawn by Hermann-Paul about how the Nabis depicted the Belle Epoque scenes in Paris. It was then repeated three years later for his famous lithograph Shopping, dated 1898.

The artist probably drew this Parisian scene in company of his friend, Felix Vallotton. The 1895 Street scene in Paris

by Vallotton (Metropolitan Museum, New York) showed similar figures: same fascinating hats, and mischievous faces. During this period, Hermann-Paul and Valloton worked closely together for satirical newspapers in which they published humorous sketches. However, if Valloton – following the example of Bonnard – represented the whole street with a wide angle, Hermann-Paul focused the attention on the ladies. He did not look at the scene from a balcony, but did set a face to face situation, giving the viewer a sense of being in the scene. The composition is even more powerful if we look at the women’s attitude: they seem to be looking at the spectators, enjoying that

their smart twin figures do not go unnoticed. Also, the fiacre is a strong reference to the Nabis atmosphere, like Bonnard’s Nannies’ Promenade, or other Vuillard works.

The silhouettes in the foreground, and background demonstrate Hermann-Paul’s strong graphic vision. The art historian Phillip Dennis Cate confirms the modernity of this work: “An extreme concern for formalized abstraction is found also in Shopping in which the boldly depicted figures defined in broad areas of mauve and blue are collages against a simplified description of the street. Geometrical abstraction, the compression of foreground and background planes, the suppression of details, and the use of exotic colour schemes places Hermann-Paul’s art well within the avant-garde concern of the 1890’s”1. Inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, these purple apparitions create a playful and seductive image, illustrating the key touch of Hermann-Paul in the Parisian artistic scene of the time.

1 New Jersey, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, The Circle of Toulouse-Lautrec, 1985-86, no. 94, p. 122.

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Charles Angrand 1854 Criquetot-sur-Ouville – Rouen 1926 Reading Child

Black Conté crayon on paper, ca. 1896-98 Sheet 316 x 239 mm Exhibition Probably Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, 10-31 Mars 1899, no. 88 (« Enfant à table ») Provenance Private collection, Europe

For Charles Angrand, such as for Seurat, drawings were not impulsive sketches, preparations or quick notes. On the contrary, drawings were objects of a continuous research, well-thought artworks in which the artist carried his art as a draughtsman to perfection. In this work, Angrand used – as often – the roughness of the paper, to create this impression of velvet softness. The contrasts are enhanced by the quality of the paper and the crayon Conté technique. A close friend of Seurat, Angrand participated at the adventure of the divisionism from the beginning as a founder member of the Société des artistes indépendants in 1882 along with Paul Signac. He developed his art in collaboration with them and produced a series of pointillism paintings pushed to an extreme simplification and idealism.

and pastels, and excelled in the representation of light. During his first year back in Normandy, he wrote to Signac that he was working on « une série d’attitudes d’enfant »1. When Signac discovered these drawings in 1899 at Angrand’s exhibition in Durand-Ruel gallery, he wrote in his journal: « Ses dessins sont des chefs-d’œuvre. Il est impossible d’imaginer plus belle disposition de blanc et de noir, plus somptueuses arabesques.

Ce sont les plus beaux dessins de peintre qui soient, des poèmes de lumière, bien combinés, bien exécutés, tout à fait réussis ; et tout le monde passe devant, sans se douter que ce sont des merveilles incomparables »2.

Enfant lisant – most probably part of this exhibition (no. 88) – is a perfect example of Angrand’s drawings from this period: extremely simple composition, a silhouette enclosed in this vaporous light and the charm of a child captured in his thoughts.

In 1896, Angrand left Paris and returned to his birth-place, in Normandy. After his father’s passing, he isolated himself in this region, and focused his art towards intimate life, in the atmosphere of his childhood. This period, less known from the public, was full of gems. Angrand produced mainly drawings

The Angrand expert, François Lespinasse, has confirmed the authenticity of this work in 2016.

1 Charles Angrand 1854-1926, Pontoise, 2006, p. 33.

2 Journal inédit de Paul Signac 1898-1899, Paris, pp. 45-46.

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Ferdinand-Sigismond Bach known as Ferdinand Bac 1859 Stuttgart – Compiègne 1952 Madame Edmond Rostand Water colour on wove paper, 1902 Signed and date lower left F. BAC 1902 Sheet 277 x 380 mm Literature Jean Rimeize, Poètes et écrivains du XVIIe arrondissement de Paris, Charenton-le-Pont, 2002;

Elsa Kozlowski, Ferdinand Bac dessins et manuscrits, Paris, 2006; Bodies of Art: French Literary Realism

and the Artist’s Model, University of Nebraska Press, 2001, p. 265 Provenance Private collection, The Netherlands

When Ferdinand Bac drew this sinuous and elegant portrait, he was at the peak of his career, although his oeuvre is now lesser known like many artists of this period. Well-traveler, writer, interior, garden and set designer, considered as one of the best caricaturists ever – sometime coarse – depicting the Parisian mood during La Belle Epoque. Bac was also the prototype of the bohemian dandy figure of late 19th century.

He was the illegitimate nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and consequently the second cousin of emperor Napoleon III. This multi-talented enthusiast had a lot of connections and friendships in the Parisian salon society at large, as for instance Richard Wagner, Victor Hugo, Alphonse Daudet, Guy de Maupassant, Giuseppe Verdi, Paul Verlaine, Charles Gounod to name a few, and the present Rosemonde Gérard, wife of Edmond Rostand. She was a famous stage actress and poetess in her own right.

finest drawings that has come on the market. Bac skillfully blended a subtle pencil work for the outline and some details most notably around the face and hair with expert water colour painting. The experience he had of portraying models posing for artists, suggested an intimate relationship that conditioned the way he shaped the outline of Rosemonde Gérard. He used delicate curves for the shoulders and the face combined with a slightly exaggerated thin waist, resuming the curve for the hips. His use of colour is also detailed: blacks, greys and reds constitute the main colour palette with a symmetry between the hair and the red carpet. Bac is here masterfully composing a strange mix between classical form (akin to French realism), symbolistic shapes and impressionist ambitions in the use of colours and light. This romantic outing

by Ferdinand Bac is a refreshing and intimate portrait that embodies the ethereal atmosphere of the Parisian society at the beginning of the 20th century.

Bac was incredibly prolific as an illustrator and writer, and had a style very much of his own. Beyond the subject matter and the technique, this presumably commissioned work and this portrait could act as a synthesis on his life and work, in between caricature and realistic portrait. It is one of the

A large part of his archives has been donated by himself to various public libraries in France, in his lifetime. Among what was left, a portion has been destroyed by the heirs, including love letters, and the rest is now in private collections.

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Emile Fabry 1865 Verviers – Brussels 1966 Eve

Wax pencil on wove paper, 1908 Signed and dated with pencil lower left E Fabry Emile 1908 Sheet 374 x 330 mm Literature Carl Laszlo, 13 Wieder-Entdeckungen, Redécouvertes, Re-discoveries, Basel, 1976, no. 5 Provenance Carl Laszlo, Basel; thence by descent

A fascinating drawing by Emile Fabry, and an ode to the Symbolist woman archetype. If Fabry is mostly celebrated for his monumental art embellishing some official buildings in Brussels, this work demonstrates the artist’s talent for intimate drawings. Using wax pencil, he surrounded the delicate face of the woman with a series of dark waves: creating a vibrant aura around the luminous head. The technique itself generates a mythical and timeless impression incarnated in the figure of Eve. The attribution of the subject to Eve first comes from old inscriptions on the back of the frame, “Eve / dessin noir / no. 5 EFabry” and “F Eve Dessin noir” (on a label). In 1907, one year before, Fabry presented La Creation d’Eve at the Exposicion International de Art in Barcelona, for which he won a medal. During his career, he represented many times Adam and Eve, often in an attitude of melancholia.

The mood of sadness emanating from this drawing seems to be concentrated in the eyes, gazing into emptiness, and the small mouth with pinched lips.

works often illustrate the relationship between life and death.

In these compositions, the women are generally viewed as chimera, mysterious creatures of the night. Different from the symbolist character of femme fatale, the women of Fabry are goddesses. However, Fabry turned progressively towards more peaceful subjects and more naturalist figures. The present skilful sheet shows the softness appearing in his art around 1900, and his evolution towards more harmonious features. Such as a Russian Icon, this drawing irradiates a mysterious light which transform the portrait of a woman into a meditative image.

It is worth mentioning the provenance, Carl Lazlo was one of the best emblematic figures in Basel, with Ernst Beyeler, dealers and avid collectors. As a dealer, he offered, and very early, the best of the new art scene from the ‘sixties’, as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Allen Ginsberg, Dieter Meier, William Burroughs, the Bruckharts, Jean Arp, Christo, Gerhard Richter, the list is endless. As collectors, his interest range was very large, from Buddha sculptures through the Symbolism, and to the postWorld War II artists he met and promoted. His rooms, at the office and at home, were full of hanged works everywhere, with no square centimetre left free.

First close to Jean Delville and Constant Montald, Fabry developed his own style and vision; preferring powerful compositions with strange characters, with distorted faces and elongated silhouette. Fascinated by Wagner, Fabry’

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Sigismond Jean Ernest Jeanès 1862 Nancy – Marseille 1952 Panel Screen

Oil painting on three wood panels, ca. 1905 Signed lower right or left on each panel Jeanès Panel each 114 x 34 cm Provenance Private collection, France

A masterpiece and an astonishing work by Sigismond Jeanès in the field of decorative art. The panels illustrate three imaginary landscapes in the vein of Symbolism, almost oneiric.

The intense colours and birds-eye view create the impression of exploring a legendary world. The right panel showing large and graceful rivers has an inscription on the back, ‘Dolise’, that might refer to the region of Dolisie in Congo, a fluvial region with sinuous waterways creating series of small green hills and islands. So far, there is no proof that Jeanès went to Africa.

However, this first panel is distinct by its subject from the rest of his works, so he may have known about this African area. He indeed mostly focused his oeuvre on mountainous landscapes, the subject of the central and left panels. No matter the location of the landscapes depicted on this panel screen it is obvious that the artist painted imaginary views creating an explosion of colours, winding lines from nature, bursting clouds of pink – if not volcanic air –, to produce a powerful decorative object. The central panel is almost abstract, and it recalls some imaginary landscapes of Odilon Redon, made at the same period, with its texture and the colours. The few structured elements are not anchored to anything, and there is no view of the horizon: spatial orientation is subverted.

tons chauds, comme ouatés, des apothéoses de colourations wagnériennes » (quoted in Gérard Schurr, Les Petites Maîtres de la Peinture, p. 54 [Possibly, Jeanès will rank with Turner with his painting Sunrise in Venice: He uses watercolour in a very peculiar way, in imprecise fairness’s, warm shades as if wadded, in apotheoses of Wagnerian colours]).

As far as we can assert, no other example of screen by Jeanès is known today. Decorative art had a key role in the art world around 1900. The object itself – a panel screen – and the stylization of nature are directly influenced by Japanese art, and by some works produced by the Nabis. Three-panel screens realized by Vuillard or Bonnard show common features with the present work: contrasted colours, serpentine lines, and compositions inspired by Japanese prints. It is close to the few Redon’s screens made from 1903, especially the Red Screen, commissioned by André Bonger and now at the Kröller-Müller Museum. These similarities prove that Jeanès was certainly introduced to major artists and movements of his time.

Still mostly unknown from the public, Jeanès was an autodidact, discreet but a very talented artist. He experimented painting by himself while visiting museums in Italy. He spent most of his life in the Alps and the Dolomites, and found in these regions his subjects: the mountains, and their vast and distant horizons. Following the impressionist principles, Jeanès presented views of summits in a variety of luminous atmospheres, from colourful twilights to dark stormy skies.

The atmospheric element set in each panel is in line with what Maurice Guillemot wrote about the artist for his first participation to the Salon d’Automne in 1906, evoking Turner and Wagner: « Jeanès égalera peut-être Turner avec sa peinture Lever de soleil à Venise : il traite l’aquarelle d’une façon bien particulière, dans des blondeurs imprécises, des

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Odilon Redon 1840 Bordeaux – Paris 1916 Red Trees

Tempera on canvas, ca. 1905-06 Signed lower right in red Od. R Size 81.2 x 54.2 cm Reference Wildenstein 1771 INHA, in Odilon Redon/Livre de Raison, Ms. 42 820: 1906, décembre, p. 709, « Arbres rouge [sic] Archive

détrempe... De Mr Vollard pour les pièces précédentes un chèque de ce jour, sur Crédit Lyonnais.

Il reste dû pour les pièces suivantes la somme de 445 francs » (Manuscrit donated

by Roseline Bacou, 1990) Literature Klaus Berger, Odilon Redon, Phantasie und Farbe, Cologne, 1964, no. 323 [not reproduced] Exhibition Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Odilon Redon, 1956-57, Paris, 1956, no. 187bis

[ « Paysage aux Arbres Rouges »; not reproduced], lent by Jacques Ulmann ;

London, Matthiesen Gallery, Odilon Redon, 1840-1916, a loan exhibition of paintings, pastels

and drawings, 1959, no. 74 (ill.), lent by Jacques Ulmann; Paris, Musée National d’art moderne, Les Sources du XXe siècle, Les Arts en Europe, 1884-1914, 1960-61, no. 582 [not reproduced],

lent by Jacques Ulmann; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh to Kandinsky:

Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910, 2012, fig. 71 (ill.)

Provenance Ambroise Vollard, bought from the artist, in December 1906 (ref. no. 3604?);

Jacques Ulmann, Paris; thence by descent, France

Odilon Redon’s Red Trees belongs to his best works of imaginary landscapes. These large work – now very rare – constitute an astonishing change of direction in the artist oeuvre from the mid-1890’s, one that affected its form, content, and function.

They show neither specific locations nor spatially logical environments. Apparently emerging from nowhere, isolated tree trunks, twigs bearing delicate leaves, and flower buds invade and crisscross the height, width, and depth of the pictorial space. These natural elements are not anchored in the ground, and there is no view of the horizon: spatial orientation is subverted, with the customary articulation of landscape space being abolished in favour of an almost abstract construction of the imagination. The dissolution of time and space in these scenes foreshadows the mysterious imaginary landscapes of Surrealism. In addition, the limitation of the colours to shades of yellow and red suggests the development toward the abstraction and liberation from conventional modes of representation that would become determining forces in modernism art.

Red Tree (W680, Van Gogh Museum). In literature, the theme appeared for the first time in the 13th century with the Queste del Saint Graal, part of the Vulgate Cycle, the chapter XI of which tells the legend of the Tree of Life. This one, initially green, took the colour of a powerful land bright red, following the murder of Abel that happened on its ground. A way of recalling the shedded blood. From the beginning, Abel is several times present in Redon’s work. The recurrence of this peculiar theme of a red tree in his oeuvre suggests that Redon echoed this literary myth. However, it seems here that the red trees stand gracefully in the delicate grove likely a lovely apparition calling to some dreamland, far from the place of the bloody event. The artist’s oneiric, enigmatic visions were often placed within the magical realm of a fertile forest.

It is worth mentioning the provenance. Red Trees was bought early by Ambroise Vollard from the artist, and remained in his collection for a while. It was bought in the early 1930’s

by Jacques Ulmann, by the time a young but very serious collector of Surrealism works. He was praised for his acute aesthetic judgment and exquisite taste. Redon might then be considered as something apart in the collection, but Ulmann had several works by the artist, as he considered Redon, in a way, as a precursor of Surrealism.

The motif of the red tree came several times in Redon’s œuvre between 1903 and 1905. The first example being a painting entitled The Red Tree in 1903 (unknown location), the second one being a tempera sold in 1905 to Andre Bonger and titled 86

INDEX OF ARTIST NAMES

Angrand, Charles Bac, Ferdinand Barre, Jean-Auguste Bonvin, François Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste Chadwick, Francis Brooks Chaperon, Philippe-Marie Ciceri, Pierre-Luc-Charles Clausen, George Cros, Henry De Braekeleer, Henri Denis, Maurice Donnay, Auguste d'Orléans, Ferdinand-Philippe Fabry, Emile Forain, Jean-Louis Goeneutte, Norbert Guillaumin, Armand Hermann-Paul

76 78 12 14 20 60 24 56 64 26 22 68 42 8 80 32 40 72 74

Isabey, Jean-Baptiste Jeanès, Sigismond Jean Ernest Jugelet, Jean Marie Auguste Lacoste, Charles Laval, Charles Legrand, Louis Lehmann, Henri Maurin, Charles Nicolle, Victor-Jean Osbert, Alphonse Petit de Meurville, Didier Redon, Odilon Ribot, Théodule-Augustin Rippl-Rónai, József Roussel, Ker-Xavier Schuffenecker, Claude Émile Steppes, Edmund Tofano, Edoardo Vignon, Victor Paul Vuillard, Édouard Wöhler, Hermann

6 82 58 70 62 46 10 44 4 48 16 84 18 36 38 34 50 30 28 66 52

CONDITION OF SALE

Foreign clients are requested to remit payment net of bank charges in Euro.

Except prior-agreement, the client is liable for all costs and risks of shipping including transit insurance.

Payments should be made to Belfius Bank, 1000 Brussels, Belgium: SWIFT-BIC: GKCCBEBB, account no: IBAN BE44 0688 9936 6445 We will be happy to send items on approval for short periods to client known to us. Firm orders will take preference.

Title does not pass to the buyer until the seller receives and collects payments in full.

CATALOGUE ENTRIES

(authors by alphabetical order) Willem Coppejans, Angélique Demur, Laura Fanti, Eric Gillis, Noémie Goldman, Valérie Lewis, Thomas Mariman, Thomas Van Deursen and Catherine Wilquin DESIGN

Arthur Calame PRINTING

L.capitan., in Ruddervoorde in October 2017 TRANSLATION/EDITING

Jean-Marie Gillis PHOTOGRAPHS & PHOTOGRAVURE

Vincent Everarts de Velp, Numerisart, Frédéric Dehaen (Studio Asselberghs), and Olivier Dengis, Mistral Bvba Special thanks (by alphabetical order) to Olivier De Schrijver, Damien Dumarquez and Raphaël Aracil de Dauksza, Michel Guillanton, Line Helleputte, Louise Hendrickx, Melissa Hughes and her team, Dominique Le Jeune and her team, Corinne Letessier, Jawad Maher, Thierry Mercier, Mireille Mosler, Marie-Astrid Neulens, Valérie Quelen, Nicolaas Teeuwisse, Willem Truffino, Christophe Van de Weghe, Etienne Van Vyve and Barbara Wawrzosek.

© Eric Gillis Fine Art – October 2017

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