18th Jun, 2024 14:00
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION
ÉDOUARD VUILLARD (FRENCH, 1868-1940)
Frieze for Émile Lévy (study for final version)
stamped with signature 'E Vuillard' (lower right)
pastel on paper
41.2 x 110 cm. (16 1/4 x 43 1/4 in.)
Executed in 1915
Provenance
The artist
With Hallsborough Galleries, London
Sale; Sotheby's, London, 1 December 1965, lot 123
With Galerie Römer, Zürich, 1983
Private Collection
With Susan Seidel, Inc., 29 October 1998, where purchased by the present owner
Exhibited
Rome, Studio A, 1964 (ill.).
Literature
Antoine Salomon, Guy Cogeval & Mathias Chivot, Vuillard: The Inexhaustible Glance: Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels Vol. III, Skira Editore, Milan, 2003, cat.no.X-99, p.1222-1223 (col.ill)
We are grateful to Mathias Chivot at Archives Vuillard, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Jean-Édouard Vuillard was born in Cruiseax where he spent his early childhood. His early education was spent the Lycée Fontaine (now known as the Lycée Condorcet), where he received a scholarship to study rhetoric and art. Notably, Vuillard went on to become a prominent member of Les Nabis, an Avant Garde artistic group of young French artists who influenced the transition from Impressionism to abstract art. At the Lycée Fontaine, he met many future members of this group such as Maurice Denis, Ker-Xavier Roussel, and Pierre Véber.
Vuillard decided not to follow in the footsteps of his Father who pursued a career in the military, and instead attended the studio of Diogène Ulysse Napoléon Maillart. After persistent attempts Vuillard was accepted to enter the École des Beaux-Arts in 1887 where his artistic career began to flourish.
The present example was commissioned from the artist by Émile Lévy; the first mention of this in the artist’s journal appears on the 5th of February 1915, in which Vuillard writes ‘at Émile Lévy’s [,] question [of] decorative art [,] asks me again [for a]small panel’. The work showcases a subject that was unusual for Vuillard. Here we see two young infants playing together, surrounded by varying objects. It is thought that the artist was influenced by playful depictions of putti (usually winged infants who appear in much religious art).
It is believed that the infant on the right of the work is Lucie Belin’s son, whom Vuillard refers to regularly in his journal. Throughout these many entries it is made apparent that this kind of composition was one that the artist found difficult. Vuillard continued to touch up the final work until April 1916 when it entered DR Widmer’s collection in Switzerland.
Sold for £21,420
Includes Buyer's Premium
Do you have an item similar to the item above? If so please click the link below to submit a free online valuation request through our website.