SIR GEORGE CLAUSEN (1852-1944), BRITISH

The following is an excerpt from Kenneth McConkey, “George Clausen & the Picture of English Rural Life.”

“Clausen was re-examining the work of Cézanne, but the hoped-for ending to an age of feverish ‘experimentation’ was a pipedream. Drawing and observational skills, for the members of his art teacher audience, remained an agreed and essential part of general education but those charged with nurturing the young needed a wider perspective. They should for instance consider the messages given in children’s toys; there was no innocence in “the reign of the golliwog and other ugly toys that had an evil influence.”

If there was an element of scepticism about the many roads art was taking, the painter had a valid argument in claiming that the advent of cinema was more consequential than modern movements in painting. He must have recalled that in his youth popular paintings in the Royal Academy were cordoned off and guarded by a policeman to keep the throng at bay. Those crowds were now packing the picture houses and the summer exhibition had become a social fixture for Jazz Age debutantes, along with Ascot and Henley. Having always despised colonial exploitation, he abhorred the golliwog. Yet in art matters while recognizing increasingly that he was “one of the old-fashioned crowd,” he was not afraid to express his views and at times came perilously close to being labelled reactionary.

Invited by Tonks to criticize the Summer Compositions at the Slade his voice was weak, and according to one impatient student, “he toddled round from one picture to the next, solidly criticizing each one, to our unutterable boredom. Students in their twenties did not want to hear about the Old Masters from an octogenarian.”

At the end of 1929, another of those stalwarts from the days of Clausen’s youth, Henry Herbert La Thangue, died in a Hampstead nursing home after having fallen into a melancholic state on receiving the dreadful news that a number of his pictures had gone down with the ship carrying them to an exhibition in New Zealand. Although he could be mischievous and misanthropic, La Thangue had been an important early influence on Clausen, even at times when they were not in regular contact.

At the turn of the century he started to explore the hill villages of Provence and Liguria and increasingly drew his subject matter from these, so that by the 1920s there were no new paintings of the cider orchards of West Sussex. But latterly, even on the Mediterranean shores, La Thangue found it difficult to escape modern vulgarity, and in his declining years he felt that these regions were being damaged irreversibly by the motor car.”

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SIR GEORGE CLAUSEN (1852-1944), BRITISH

OLD ESSEX IN NOVEMBER oil on canvas; signed and titled verso 25 x 29.9 in — 63.5 x 75.9 cm

PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE:

Kenneth McConkey, “George Clausen & the Picture of English Rural Life,” Fine Art Society, London, 2013, p. 192.

$45,000 — 50,000

JACQUES MARTIN-FERRIÈRES (1891-1972), FRENCH

VASE DE FLEURS, 1941 oil on plywood; signed and dated lower left 25.6 x 23 in — 65.6 x 59.2 cm

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby’s, New York, NY, Impressionist and Modern Art, Part II, May 14, 1997, lot 463; Loudmer S.C.P., Paris, France, Importants Tableaux Modernes, October 19, 1997, lot 141; Renée Foutouhi Fine Art, New York, NY, June 4, 1999; Private Collection, Toronto, ON, purchased from the above

$6,000 — 8,000

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BELA IVANYI GRUNWALD (1867-1940), HUNGARIAN FLOWERS IN BLUE VASE oil on canvas; signed lower right 23.2 x 19.3 in — 59 x 49 cm

PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Ontario $7,000 — 9,000 oil

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PROVENANCE:

Private Collection, Yellowknife, NT

$2,000 — 3,000

HENRI LE SIDANER (1862-1939), FRENCH

PETITE PLACE AU SOLEIL COUCHANT, 1901

We would like to thank Mr. Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner for his certification and his analysis on the painting.

“He [Le Sidaner] was uniquely concerned with discovering and noting the traces of life in the landscapes of houses, small squares, promenades and abandoned gardens, which have been his preferred subject.” (Gabriel Mourey, The Work of Le Sidaner, The Studio, 1901).

On his return from Bruges in May 1900, Le Sidaner met Rodin in Paris at a banquet given in his honour: “Why are you travelling so far?” asks the sculptor, who advised his young comrade to go and visit the Oise region. The latter was convinced, and settled in midsummer in Beauvais: “It is an enchanted country, by this extraordinary autumn,” he writes to his friends, “I work and I am happy, having discovered a nice refuge in provincial life, warm and quiet and pretty.”

In Bruges, through the contemplation of sleepy towns, the artist found the direction his art would take. During the year spent in Beauvais, he affirmed his views on Intimism, by way of these evocative landscapes where the human figure has essentially no place. His Beauvais paintings, presented at the Salons of 1901, were met with acclaim: “It’s the Maeterlinck of painting,” wrote Charles Saulnier.

On April 21, back in Beauvais the day after the “little” opening of the Salon de la Nationale, Le Sidaner drew a small courtyard at sunset. The work is a tribute to the nobility of its buildings, as well as to the statue of Doctor Ernest Gérard, the town’s former mayor, sculpted by Henri-Léon Gréber (who would sculpt the bust of the painter shortly thereafter). On April 24, he painted a study on panel and the next day began the final canvas in his studio, adding in the silhouettes of a patrol of soldiers in front of the statue.

Sick with the flu and bedridden for four days, Le Sidaner completed his canvas on May 8, 9 and 23, delivering it on June 2 to his dealer, Georges Petit, with whom he was under contract, for the price of 500 francs.

« Il se soucie uniquement de découvrir et de noter les traces de la vie dans les paysages de maisons, de petites places, de promenades et de jardins abandonnés dont il a fait l’objet de sa prédilection. » (Gabriel Mourey, L’œuvre de Le Sidaner, The Studio, 1901).

A son retour de Bruges en mai 1900, Le Sidaner rencontre Rodin à Paris, au banquet donné en son honneur : « Pourquoi vous en aller si loin ? », lui dit le statuaire qui conseille à son jeune camarade d’aller visiter l’Oise. Ce dernier se laisse convaincre et s’installe au milieu de l’été à Beauvais : « C’est un pays enchanté, par cet extraordinaire automne, écrit-il à ses amis, je travaille et je suis content ayant découvert une bonne retraite dans une vie de province un peu tiède et tranquille et jolie. » »

A Bruges, l’artiste avait trouvé la direction de son art dans la contemplation des villes endormies. Au cours de l’année passée à Beauvais, il affirme sa conception de l’intimisme par des paysages d’évocation où la figure humaine n’a pratiquement plus sa place. Ses toiles beauvaisiennes présentées aux Salons de 1901 connaissent le succès : « C’est le Maeterlinck de la peinture », écrit Charles Saulnier.

Le 21 avril, de retour à Beauvais au lendemain du « petit » vernissage du Salon de la Nationale, Le Sidaner dessine le motif de Petite place au soleil couchant. L’œuvre est un hommage à la noblesse de ses bâtisses, ainsi qu’à la statue du docteur Ernest Gérard, son ancien maire, sculptée par Henri-Léon Gréber (qui bientôt réalisera le buste du peintre.) Le 24, il peint une étude sur panneau et, le lendemain, débute sa toile dans son atelier en ajoutant les silhouettes d’une patrouille de soldats devant la statue. Grippé et alité 4 jours, Le Sidaner termine sa toile les 8, 9 et 23 mai, et la livre le 2 juin au prix de 500 francs, à son marchand Georges Petit avec qui il est sous contrat.”

HENRI LE SIDANER (1862-1939), FRENCH

PETITE PLACE AU SOLEIL COUCHANT, 1901 oil on canvas; signed lower left 19.7 x 31.5 in — 61 x 83 cm

PROVENANCE:

Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, France; Private Collection, Vancouver, BC, acquired from the above by descent

LITERATURE:

A certificate of authenticity written by Mr. Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner will be delivered to the buyer. This painting will be reproduced under the number “LS 579” in the addendum of the Catalogue Raisonné, “Le Sidaner-L’œuvre peint et gravé,” prepared by Mr. Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner.

$100,000 — 150,000

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FRANÇOIS GALL (1912-1987), FRENCH/HUNGARIAN PLACE DU TERTRE, PARIS oil on canvas; signed lower right; titled to gallery label verso 8 x 10 in — 20.3 x 25.4 cm

PROVENANCE: Dominion Gallery, Montreal, QC; Private Collection, Montreal, QC $1,800 — 2,500

JULES PASCIN (1885-1930), FRENCH

STANDING NUDE watercolour and mixed media on paper laid down on card; signed sight 13 x 9.1 in — 35.3 x 25.3 cm

PROVENANCE:

Fraser Brothers Auction, Montreal, QC; Private Collection, Toronto, ON

$1,500 — 2,500