French, 1817-1878
Daubigny made numerous trips during the 1850s and 1860s to Villerville, a town four kilometers from Trouville. He described the area in a letter of June 1854:
I see that there are many good things to do here. I see the sea, and it’s so beautiful that I don’t want to go anywhere else; and I hasten to work. The weather has been so bad that I’ve still done almost nothing; but I’ve seen sunsets on the sea that make those of Claude Lorraine seem lifeless….
It was his studies from this location that caused a young Monet to write to Boudin that Daubigny was an artist who understood nature. Daubigny did not make any known trips to the area in 1874, so the present work was probably completed in Paris from studies done in situ. He did produce numerous views of Villerville during this period though, including The Coast at Villerville (1875, oil on canvas, 85 x 149 cm.), a view from the same vantage point which is currently housed at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Charles François Daubigny was born in Paris on February 15, 1817. His father and his uncle being painters of some reputation, it is not surprising that Daubigny’s interest in art was encouraged from an early age. A sickly child, his parents arranged for him to live in the country in the small village of Valandmois. It was during these childhood years with the Bazots, his adopted family and lifelong friends that Daubigny’s love of the rural landscape began.
Daubigny’s earliest artistic experiences included the decoration of boxes and clocks and, at the age of 17, restoring paintings at the Louvre under the direction of Granet. His training was largely informal; his studies in the well-respected atelier of the artist Sentie were interrupted by a year-long painting sojourn in Italy with his friend and fellow artist Henri Mignan. In 1840, he spent a brief period under the tutelage of the academician Paul Delaroche.
His earliest successes, as well as a means of financial support, were his etchings and illustrations. After winning his first Salon prize in 1848, the French government commissioned an etching from him after Claude Lorrain’s Abreuvoir. Daubigny’s first love however, was landscape painting and his fascination with water was evident judging from his salon entries of the late 40’s and 50’s. Known for his spontaneity and broad painterly brushstroke, his work was often criticized for its sketchy quality. In the Montier Universel, a popular daily, the critic, Grunn, wrote on June 20, 1852, “Is M. Daubigny afraid of ruining his work by finishing it? . . . I have a better opinion of his talent and I am convinced that a man who has begun so well could not finish badly.”
Daubigny, unlike many of his contemporaries with whom he is closely associated due to their mutual concern with the study of nature, spent little time in the region of Barbizon. He traveled extensively in France, as well as to Spain and England. In 1852, Daubigny met Corot, and a long and enduring friendship, which included many painting excursions together throughout France and Switzerland, began. The painter was most drawn, however, to the landscape of Valandmois, the place of his childhood and the countryside of Auvers, where the artist would eventually make his home.
It was Auvers in 1857 that Daubigny launched his studio boat, the Botin, from which he would produce his most memorable and popular paintings of the Oise. From this time, a difference could be seen in Daubigny’s work. His ability to capture the simple beauty of the countryside was unchanged, but his brushstroke became shorter and more confident. Though his work had finally found popular acceptance, criticism did not cease. In 1861, Daubigny’s unique style of painting would be assaulted by Gautier, who accused him of painting only an “impression.”
Daubigny’s position as a respected painter and prominent member of the artistic community was clearly recognized when in 1865, he was elected a member of the Salon jury. In this role, he was one of the few who recognized the talents of a new generation of younger artists, and his influence was key in the acceptance of works by Pisarro, Monet, Sisley, Degas.
Daubigny died on February 19, 1878, and according to his wishes, was buried next to his friend Corot at the Cemetery of Pere Lachaise
From a letter to M. Geoffroy, June 23, 1854; rpt. in Madeleine Fidell-Beaufort and Janine Bailly-Herzberg, Daubigny, Paris, Editions Geoffroy-Dechaume, 1975: p. 257.
Albert Kostenevich, French Art Treasures at the Hermitage: Splendid Masterpieces, New Discoveries. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., : p. 97.
French, 1817-1878
Charles François Daubigny was born in Paris on February 15, 1817. His father and his uncle being painters of some reputation, it is not surprising that Daubigny’s interest in art was encouraged from an early age. A sickly child, his parents arranged for him to live in the country in the small village of Valandmois. It was during these childhood years with the Bazots, his adopted family and lifelong friends that Daubigny’s love of the rural landscape began.
Daubigny’s earliest artistic experiences included the decoration of boxes and clocks and, at the age of 17, restoring paintings at the Louvre under the direction of Granet. His training was largely informal; his studies in the well-respected atelier of the artist Sentie were interrupted by a year-long painting sojourn in Italy with his friend and fellow artist Henri Mignan. In 1840, he spent a brief period under the tutelage of the academician Paul Delaroche.
His earliest successes, as well as a means of financial support, were his etchings and illustrations. After winning his first Salon prize in 1848, the French government commissioned an etching from him after Claude Lorrain’s Abreuvoir. Daubigny’s first love however, was landscape painting and his fascination with water was evident judging from his salon entries of the late 40’s and 50’s. Known for his spontaneity and broad painterly brushstroke, his work was often criticized for its sketchy quality. In the Montier Universel, a popular daily, the critic, Grunn, wrote on June 20, 1852, “Is M. Daubigny afraid of ruining his work by finishing it? . . . I have a better opinion of his talent and I am convinced that a man who has begun so well could not finish badly.”
Daubigny, unlike many of his contemporaries with whom he is closely associated due to their mutual concern with the study of nature, spent little time in the region of Barbizon. He traveled extensively in France, as well as to Spain and England. In 1852, Daubigny met Corot, and a long and enduring friendship, which included many painting excursions together throughout France and Switzerland, began. The painter was most drawn, however, to the landscape of Valandmois, the place of his childhood and the countryside of Auvers, where the artist would eventually make his home.
It was in Auvers in 1857 that Daubigny launched his studio boat, the Botin, from which he would produce his most memorable and popular paintings of the Oise. From this time, a difference could be seen in Daubigny’s work. His ability to capture the simple beauty of the countryside was unchanged, but his brushstroke became shorter and more confident. Though his work had finally found popular acceptance, criticism did not cease. In 1861, Daubigny’s unique style of painting would be assaulted by Gautier, who accused him of painting only an “impression.”
Daubigny’s position as a respected painter and prominent member of the artistic community was clearly recognized when in 1865, he was elected a member of the Salon jury. In this role, he was one of the few who recognized the talents of a new generation of younger artists, and his influence was key in the acceptance of works by Pisarro, Monet, Sisley, Degas.
Daubigny died on February 19, 1878, and according to his wishes, was buried next to his friend Corot at the Cemetery of Pere Lachaise
Albert Kostenevich, French Art Treasures at the Hermitage: Splendid Masterpieces, New Discoveries. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., : p. 97.
French, 1869-1954
Provenance
Sotheby's sale, London, April 30, 1969 (Lot 391) Noah Goldowsky, New York Mr. Joseph P. Shure, Chicago Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago Private collection, New York (acquired from the above December 1988)
Photo-certificate of authenticity signed and dated by Madame Duthuit on May 12, 1969 in Paris.
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of color and his fluid, brilliant and original draftsmanship. As a draftsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but principally as a painter, Matisse is one of the best-known artists of the 20th century. Although he was initially labeled as a Fauve (wild beast), by the 1920s, he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. His mastery of the expressive language of color and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.
Around 1904 he met Pablo Picasso, who was 12 years younger than him.[4] The two became life-long friends as well as rivals and are often compared; one key difference between them is that Matisse drew and painted from nature, while Picasso was much more inclined to work from imagination. The subjects painted most frequently by both artists were women and still lifes.
The first painting of Matisse acquired by a public collection was Still Life with Geraniums (1910), exhibited in the Pinakothek der Moderne.[14] Today, a Matisse painting can fetch as much as US $17 million. In 2002, a Matisse sculpture, Reclining Nude I (Dawn), sold for US $9.2 million, a record for a sculpture by the artist.
The Plum Blossoms a 1948 painting by Henri Matisse, was purchased on September 8, 2005, for the Museum of Modern Art by Henry Kravis and the new president of the museum, Marie-Josée Drouin. Estimated price was US $25 million. Previously, it had not been seen by the public since 1970.
Matisse’s daughter Marguerite often aided Matisse scholars with insights about his working methods and his works. She died in 1982 while compiling a catalog of her father's work.
Matisse’s son, Pierre Matisse, (1900-1989) opened an important modern art gallery in New York City during the 1930s. The Pierre Matisse Gallery which was active from 1931 until 1989 represented and exhibited many European artists and a few Americans and Canadians in New York often for the first time. He exhibited Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, André Derain, Yves Tanguy, Le Corbusier, Paul Delvaux, Wifredo Lam, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Balthus, Leonora Carrington, Zao Wou Ki, Sam Francis, sculptors Theodore Roszak, Raymond Mason and Reg Butler, and several other important artists, including the work of Henri Matisse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matisse
