Lot 312, "Le
concert matinal, place Vintmille," by Edouard Vuillard, peinture à
colle on board, 33 1/2 by 38 7/8 inches, 1937-8
Lot 312 is a large and late
peinture à colle on board by Edouard Vuillard (1858-1940). It
is entitled "Le concert matinal, place Vintmille" and measures 33 1/2
by 38 7/8 inches. It was executed in 1937-8 and has an modest
estimate of $350,000 to 450,000. It sold for $482,500.
The catalogue entry
provides the following commentary:
"Le concert natinal,
place Vintmille embodies a mysterious spirit of musicality in its
delicate harmonics of color, texgture, design and compositiion.
from the heightened perspective of the painter, one can see
in the corner behind the pianist a folding screen painted by Bonnard.
To the right hangs a portrait of a bearded man who bears a
strong resemblance fo Ker-Xavier Russell, the brother-in-law of
Vuillard. At the center of the composition is the painting Annette sur la plage de
Villerville...., which depicts Roussel's daughter -
Vuillard's niece - on the beach. The painting was dear to
Vuillard's heart; indeed, the peaceful harmony of gray and brown which
exmerges from this scene suggests, by the same quality of its silence,
the deep musical facility of the art of the painter who enjoyed the
rare pleasure of listening to the musicians at his home.
'Vuillard was the spectator who partook but never intruded,
perferring to capture the mood from a distance. The interior
was for Vuillard a personal metaphor for himself - an inner space,
self-controlled and cut off from tthe world, but rife with
poossibilities.....(E.W. Aston, The
Intimate Interiors of Edouard Vuiillard, London 1989, p.
4)."
"Vuillard," the
entry continued, "had developed his taste in music by listening to
Misia Natanson at the piano. Misia was a pianist of
Polish sdescent who hosted an artistic salon in Paris; she was a patron
and friend of numerous artists for whom she regularly posed, including
Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Henr de Toulouse-Lautrec and PIerre-Auguste
Renoir. Vuillard's relationship with Misia and her husband,
Thadée, was the most important influence on his art during the 1890s -
as well as providing contact with the foremost liteary and artistic men
of the day, it bought him into a worldly social milieu which was to
provide the subject matter of many of his finest pictures."
Lot
313, "Lucy Hessel en visite à Cricqueboeuf," by Edouard Vuillard, oil
on board, 12 by 20 3/4 inches, 1901
Lot 313 is an excellent
interior composition by Vuillard entitled "Lucy Hessel en visite à
Cricqueboeuf." An oil on board, it measures 12 by 20 3/4
inches and was executed in 1901. It has an estimate of
$180,000 to $250,000. It was once owned by Sacha Guitry. It failed to sell.