Whistler and his Influence
Transcription
Whistler and his Influence
Whistler and his Influence An exhibition organized by Thomas Colville Fine Art Cover image: Whistler, Mother and Child (plate 5) Whistler and his Influence An exhibition organized by Thomas Colville Fine Art The Art Show The Park Avenue Armory New York, New York 10065 March 4-8, 2015 List of Plates Artist & Title List of Plates (cont.) Plate James Abbott McNeill Whistler Harmony in Blue and Pearl: The Sands, Dieppe Green and Silver - The Three Clouds Penthouse of the Public House in St. Ives, Cornwall Women and Children outside a Brittany Shop Mother and Child The Palace in Rags La Dormeuse 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Robert Frederick Blum Self Portrait 8 Hercules Brabazon Brabazon Gibraltar 9 Dennis Miller Bunker The Station 10 Sören Emil Carlsen Afternoon Landscape On the Lagoon, Venice 11 12 Eugène Carrière Portrait of Madame Carrière 13 Maurice Denis Florence, Piazza San Gallo 14 Frank Duveneck On the Steps of San Salute 15 Albert Goodwin A Garden, Naples and Vesuvius 16 Charles Guilloux Evening 17 Artist & Title Plate Alexander Harrison Beach Tides 18 John La Farge Dawn. An Allegorical Study in Watercolor On the Beach. Satapuala. Upolu, Samoa. Moonlight. 19 20 Henri Le Sidaner Camille Le Sidaner, Epouse de L’Artiste 21 Georges Lemmen Portrait of a Girl 22 Giorgio Morandi Paesaggio, Casa Bruciata 23 Georgia O’Keeffe Untitled (Grey Wash Forms) 24 Walter Sickert Modes & Lingerie: A Shop in Dieppe 25 Joseph Stella Painter’s Row: Dark Bedroom 26 Dwight William Tryon Autumn Sunset Seascape at Twilight 27 28 John Henry Twachtman River under the Hills at Arques-la-Bataille Sailing in the Mist 29 30 Julian Alden Weir Anna Arranging Flowers 31 Introduction By the 1880’s, James McNeill Whistler had become the first American artist to achieve international fame through his evocative paintings of women, painterly abstract nocturnes, innovative prints, and intimate pastel vignettes. The artist’s muted palette and ethereal materiality of form in his Japanese-inspired compositions continue to influence generations of artists throughout Europe and the United States. The examples I have chosen for this exhibition dating from Whistler’s mature period invite close examination. With their diminutive scale, muted colors, subtly articulated flat spatial relationships, and the dissolution of peripheral detail, these “small beauties,” as Whistler called them, embody his revolutionary way of seeing. To enhance the experience of these visual jewels, I have tried to evoke Whistler’s manner of presentation in their installation. Displayed alongside this grouping of Whistler’s works in oil, pastel, watercolor, and graphite, are a sampling from a number of different artists reflecting the scope of his influence. Morandi, Paesaggio, Casa Bruciata 6 Whistler, Penthouse of the Public House in St. Ives, Cornwall Whistler is an artist I have long admired and I have been fortunate in handling a number of his works. Illustrating various aspects of his imagination, these examples from my current inventory are among the best I have owned. 7 Plate 1 JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (American 1834-1903) Harmony in Blue and Pearl: The Sands, Dieppe, circa 1885 Oil on panel 9 x 5 1/2 inches Signed with butterfly lower right Provenance The Artist | Dowdeswell, London, 1886 | Purchased from the above by Sir Henry Irving, London, 1886 for 30 pounds | Gifted from the above to Ellen Terry, London | Purchased from the above by Scott & Fowles, New York | Purchased from the above by the Cincinnati Art Museum, 1921 | Sale: Parke-Bernet, 18 October 1945, lot 37 | Purchased at the above sale by Macbeth Galleries, New York | Purchased from the above by Mrs. Caroline R. Hotchkiss (Mrs. C.R. Foulke) | Sale: Sotheby’s, New York, 29 November 1990, lot 77 | The Westerevelt Company, Tuscaloosa, Alabama | Private collection, 2013 Literature Art in May in Chronicle of Art, IX, 1886, pg. xxxi | Saturday Review, 22 May 1886 | 29th Annual Exhibition of American Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, 27 May-31 July 1922, no 23, illustrated | Whistlers at the Cincinnati Museum, II, Fine Arts Review, October 1922, p. 9, illustrated | Pousette-Dart, N., James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1924, plate 44 | Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1980, p. 159, no. 327 and plate 203 | Tom Artstrong, An American Odyssey: The Warner Collection of Fine and Decorative Arts, Gulf States Paper Corporation, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, New York, The Monacelli Press, 2001, p. 130, illustrated Exhibited London, Messrs Dowdeswell, catalogue designed by Whistler, ‘Notes’ - ‘Harmonies’ - ‘Nocturnes’, second series, May 1886, as Harmony in blue and pearl-The Sands, Dieppe 8 9 Plate 2 JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (American 1834-1903) Green and Silver - The Three Clouds, 1888 Watercolor on linen 5 1/3 x 8 2/3 inches Signed with butterfly lower right center Inscribed Former collection of Comtesse Greffulhe, Drouot 1955/Gift of Walter Gay on the reverse Provenance Comtesse Greffulhe | Drouot, 1955 Literature Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 428, no. 1174 Exhibited Munich, Royal Palace of Munich, Third International Art Exhibition (Dritte Internationale Kunstausstellung) - Munich Anniversary Exhibition, June 1888, p. 171 in exhibition catalogue, no. 2729 as Grau and Silber: Die drei Wolken | New York, H. Wunderlich & Co., Notes - Harmonies - Nocturnes, March, 1889, no. 18 Catalogue Note This recently rediscovered work was a gift from the American expatriate painter Walter Gay to the Comtesse Greffulhe, a celebrated patron of the arts and admirer of Whistler. Whistler’s minimal marine views owe their genesis to his association with Gustave Courbet, who introduced Whistler to his own spare treatment of the subject in Trouville in the autumn of 1865. Twenty-three years later, Whistler created this sensitive interpretation of a rainy day on the same beach at Trouville, employing a narrow vertical format, a muted silver-green tonal harmony, a distant disposition of figures, and the considered placement of his faux seal to evoke his personal sense of a Japanese aesthetic. 10 11 Plate 3 JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (American 1834-1903) Penthouse of the Public House in St. Ives, Cornwall, circa 1883-84 Watercolor on paper 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches Provenance The Artist | Acquired from the above by Walter Sickert | Acquired from the above by Hesslein, 1905 | Private collection, Portland, Oregon, by 1984 | Private collection, Nevada | Roger Abbott, Cottage Grove, Oregon | Acquired from the above by a private collection, Eugene, Oregon, 1986 Literature Walter R. Sickert, letter to the editor, The Works of Whistler, New Age, Vol. X, February 29, 1912, p. 431, no. 18 | Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 350-51, no. 921, illustrated 12 13 Plate 4 JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (American 1834-1903) Women and Children outside a Brittany Shop, circa 1888 Watercolor on linen 5 x 8 1/2 inches Provenance In the artist’s studio at his death | Miss R. Birnie Philip (sister-in-law of the artist), 1903 | Acquired from the above by Colnaghi & Co., London, March 1943 | Acquired from the above by Villiers Davis, London, April 30, 1943 - 1985 | Sale Christie’s, New York, December 6, 1985, lot 182, illustrated in color | Acquired by a private collection from the above sale, 1985-2012 Literature Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 432, no. 1187, illustrated Catalogue Note In Chelsea in 1884, Whistler began his celebrated close-up views of shop fronts focusing on the qualities of color, line and form – a motif that occupied him throughout his career. Within the arrangements of rectangular shapes, which emphasized the flatness of the picture plane, the details of the centrally focused image are reduced to subtle patterns of soft color and value. These concerns, associated today with modernism, are the essential tenets of Whistler’s style. Created on his honeymoon trip in Brittany in the fall of 1888, this astute observation of daily life is conveyed through the most subtle means of artistic expression. Using evanescent sand-colored washes to imply façade and pavement, Whistler provides a hint of context to the central setting, described in precisely conceived touches of delicate hues. Here, the weight and essence of the women, children, and dog are felt rather than detailed, creating a balance between narrative and decorative effect. 14 15 Plate 5 JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (American 1834-1903) Mother and Child, circa 1890 Pastel on brown paper 9 1/2 x 7 inches Provenance John H. Wrenn, by 1904 | By family descent to a lady | Sale: New York, Sotheby’s, 2 December 1982, lot 14, illustrated | Private Collection, Washington, D.C. | Sally Engelhard Pingree, Washington, D.C. Literature Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, London/New Haven, Yale University Press, 1995, pg. 464-465, no. 1282, illustrated Exhibited Boston, Copley Society of Boston, The Works of Whistler, The Memorial Exhibition, February 1904, p. 15, no. 115 | New York, M. Knoedler & Company, Notes, Harmonies and Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, 30 November – 27 December 1984, no. 45 | London, The Tate Gallery, James McNeill Whistler: A Retrospective Exhibition, 12 October 1994 – 8 January 1995, no. 176; Paris, Museé d’Orsay, 6 February – 30 April 1995; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, 28 May – 20 August 1995 | Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Songs on Stone: James McNeill Whistler and the Art of Lithography, 6 June – 30 August 1998, cat. no. 98 Catalogue Note Whistler’s ethereal mother-and-child pastels of the 1890s are distanced, classicized portrayals of idealized domesticity, inspired by similar sensual themes of the eighteenth-century Rococo, as well as the attenuated Tanagra figurines of ancient Greece with their wispy remnants of pigment. In this work Whistler applies his aesthetics of subtle line and color to create a dreamy object of contemplation. The tracery of his suggestive lines is combined with delicate touches of color to evoke the tenderness of a young child’s vulnerability and a mother’s kiss. 16 17 Plate 6 JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (American 1834-1903) The Palace in Rags, 1879-80 Chalk and pastel on brown paper 11 x 6 1/2 inches Provenance Said to have been ‘selected by the master for a relative’ | The artists’ cousin, Ross Winans, Baltimore, Maryland | Albert Rouillier Art Galleries, Chicago | Purchased from the above by Marshall Field, Chicago, 23 November 1915 | Passed to his widow, later Mrs. Diego Suarez | Purchased from the above by Knoedler Galleries, New York, 15 June 1960 | Purchased from the above by Norman B. Woolworth, May 1961 | Purchased through R. M. Light, California by Agnew, London, 1974 | Purchased by a Private Collector, London, 1974-2014 Literature Country Gentlemen, 5 February 1881 | Daily Telegraph, 5 February 1881 | T.R. Way, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pg. 52, no. 33, illustrated | Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler, The Graphic Work: Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, Venice, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 1976, pg. 26 & 44, no. 99, plate 6, illustrated | R. Dorment and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995, pg. 184-185, no. 105, illustrated | Alastair Grieve and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler in Venice, 1994 | Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 283, no. 770, illustrated | Alastair Grieve, Whistler’s Venice, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2000, pg. 72-74, illustrated no. 75 | Margaret F. MacDonald, Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2001, pg. 19, 21, 99 | Eric Denker, Whistler and his Circle in Venice, London, Merrell Publishers Limited, 2003, pg. 26-27, fig. 6 Exhibited London, Fine Arts Society, Venice Pastels, opened 29 January 1881, no. 33, lent by a private collector, Great Britain | New York, Kennedy & Co., Pastels, Etchings and Lithographs by Whistler, November 1914, no. 5 | New York, Carroll Carstairs, Whistler Pastels and Water Colours, 12 January – 5 February 1938 | New York and London, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, 1-24 September 1960; Knoedler Galleries, 2-30 November 1960, pg. 77-78, no. 80, lent by Mrs. Diego Suarez | New York, Coe Kerr Galleries, Drawings and Watercolours, 17th – 20th Centuries, January-February 1972 | London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, Whistler, The Graphic Work: Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, Venice, T. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., 6-30 July 1976; Walker Art Gallery, 20 August-26 September 1976; Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, 7 October-11 November 1976 | New York, Knoedler & Co., Notes, Harmonies, Nocturnes, 30 November-18 December 1984, no 88 | London, Paris, and Washington D.C., James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, 13 October 1994-8 January 1995; Musee d’Orsay, 6 February-30 April 1995; National Gallery of Art, 28 May-20 August 1995 18 19 Plate 7 JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (American 1834-1903) La Dormeuse, circa 1882-85 Pencil on laid paper 3 5/16 x 4 3/16 inches Signed with butterfly left center Collector’s mark of Alfred Beurdeley (Lugt 421) lower right Provenance Mr. Tom McNay, London | Estate of Alfred Beurdeley, Petit’s, Paris, 2-4 June 1920, cat. no. 377 | Estate of Samuel Henry Nazeby Harrington | Scott & Fowles, New York Literature Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 327, no. 869, illustrated 20 21 Plate 8 ROBERT FREDERICK BLUM (American 1857-1903) Self Portrait, circa 1890 Oil on board 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches Provenance The artist | Gifted to Otto Henry Bacher by the artist | The estate of Otto Henry Bacher | Christophe Reynal, St. Ouen, France | Berry-Hill Gallery, New York | R. H. Love, Chicago, Illinois | Collection of Graham Williford, Texas | The Jean and Graham Devoe Williford Charitable Trust, until 2012 22 23 Plate 9 HERCULES BRABAZON BRABAZON (British 1821-1906) Gibraltar, circa 1880 Watercolor on paper 8 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches Initialed H B B lower right 24 25 Plate 10 DENNIS MILLER BUNKER (American 1861-1890) The Station, circa 1886-89 Oil on canvas 14 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches Signed To Tarbell/D.M. Bunker lower right Provenance Edmund C. Tarbell, gift from the artist | To his daughter, Mary Tarbell Schaffer, New Castle, New Hampshire | Acquired from the above by Giovanni Castano, Boston, Massachusetts | Ira Spanierman, New York | Acquired from the above by Rita & Daniel Fraad, 1964-2004 Exhibited New Britain, Connecticut, The New Britain Museum of American Art; New York, Davis & Long Company, Dennis Miller Bunker Rediscovered, April-June 1978, no. 14 | Fort Worth, Texas, Amon Carter Museum, American Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings from the Collection of Rita and Daniel Fraad, May-July 1985, no. 16, p. 36-37, illustrated | Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts; Denver, Colorado, Denver Art Museum, Dennis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist, January-June 1995, October-December 1995, no. 35, p. 17, 62, 111, 174, 182, illustrated in color p. 153. 26 27 Plate 11 SÖREN EMIL CARLSEN (American 1853-1932) Afternoon Landscape, circa 1907 Oil on canvas 24 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches Signed Emil Carlsen lower left Provenance Collection of Duncan Phillips | Macbeth Gallery, New York | Edwin C. Shaw, Akron, Ohio, September, 1922 | The Estates James A. & Dorothy C. Vaughn, Sea Island, Georgia Literature David A. Cleveland with foreword by John Wilmerding, A History of American Tonalism: 1880-1920, Manchester and New York, Hudson Hills Press, 2010, p. 524-525, fig. 8.106, color illustrated Catalogue Note While Emil Carlsen had developed a reputation early in his career as one of late-nineteenth-century America’s preeminent still life painters, by the turn of the next century he was renowned for the many landscapes he chose to represent his work at exhibitions throughout the country. Afternoon Landscape, painted at the Windham, Connecticut home of his close friend J. Alden Weir, reflects Carlsen’s unique approach to landscape painting. As in his still life compositions, in which the considered placement of evocative articles and the close values of their jewel-like surfaces elevate these works into objects of beauty and contemplation, this nestled sprawl of ancient buildings is unified into a total harmony through the artist’s masterful touch and subtle coloration. 28 29 Plate 12 SÖREN EMIL CARLSEN (American 1853-1932) On the Lagoon, Venice, circa 1910 Oil on canvas laid down on wood 8 x 10 inches Initialed E C lower left Provenance Estate of the artist 30 31 Plate 13 EUGÈNE ANATOLE CARRIÈRE (French 1849-1906) Portrait of Madame Carrière Oil on canvas 21 3/4 x 18 inches Signed Eugene Carriere lower left Provenance Collection of George Viau, Paris Literature Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Catalogue des Tableaux Modernes: Pastels et Aquarelles, Composant la Collection de M. Georges Viau, 2 -3 March 1907, no. 6, illustrated | Barcelona, Exposition D’Art Francais, 1917 32 33 Plate 14 MAURICE DENIS (French 1870-1943) Florence, Piazza San Gallo, 1898 Oil on board 10 1/4 x 11 inches Initialed and dated MD 98 lower right Provenance Count Harry Kessler | The Revlon Collection | Sale: Sotheby’s, New York, Impressionist and Modern Art, 10/9/1996, lot 30 | Private Collection, Maine Exhibited Galerie Druet, Maurice Denis, Paris, France, 1904, no. 63 Note This picture is to be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being compiled by Claire Denis and Fabienne Stahl at no. 898.0216. Catalogue Note Maurice Denis was a leading member of Les Nabis, a group of late nineteenth-century Parisian painters who rejected the Impressionist’s realistic observations of nature in favor of symbolic and decorative works. Denis’ style reflects many sources of inspiration, including the color and design of Italian fifteenth century Primitives, the cropped imagery of Japanese prints, the sinuous line of Art Nouveau, and the symbolism of Paul Gauguin and The Pont-Aven School. In this work Denis has employed condensed elements, a frieze-like spatial organization, airless perspective, and opalescent color to transform the sights and atmosphere of an early evening in one of Florence’s monumental piazzas into a dreamy twilight tableau. 34 35 Plate 15 FRANK DUVENECK (American 1848-1919) On the Steps of San Salute, 1884 Oil on canvas 10 x 14 inches Monogrammed and dated FD 1884 lower left Provenance The collection of Lou Armentrout and Michael Welch, Columbus, Ohio Catalogue Note Famous for the dark Old Master derived portraits he developed in Munich, Frank Duveneck attracted there a following of young American students whom he then led for study in Florence and Venice. The scenic beauty of Italy and the quality of its sunlight inspired him to focus on outdoor scenes and to lighten and brighten his palette. In this view from the steps of Santa Maria della Salute the artist has avoided the picturesque details beloved by tourists to create this strikingly modern perspective. From the undulating surface above the submerged steps to the glint of sunlight silhouetting the figures, Duveneck has narrowed his vision to express through delicate transitions of values and pigment the most subtle effects of light within the humid envelope of gleaming overcast. 36 37 Plate 16 ALBERT GOODWIN (British 1845-1932) A Garden, Naples and Vesuvius, 1926 Pencil, pen & brown ink, watercolor & bodycolor 10 1/4 x 14 1/4 inches Signed & dated Albert Goodwin 1926 lower right Inscribed A Garden/ Naples & Vesuvius lower left Provenance Lyndon Goodwin Harris until 2006 | Estate of Lyndon Goodwin Harris until 2007 38 39 Plate 17 CHARLES GUILLOUX (French 1866-1946) Evening, 1895 Oil on canvas 16 7/8 x 21 inches Signed and dated C. Guilloux 95 lower right Provenance Private collection, Paris 40 41 Plate 18 ALEXANDER HARRISON (American 1853-1930) Beach Tides, circa 1895 Oil on canvas 12 x 39 inches Signed A. Harrison lower left Provenance Private Collection, New York Literature Cleveland, David, A History of American Tonalism: 1880-1920, Manchester, Vermont: Hudson Hills Press, 2010, pg. 112, illustrated 42 43 Plate 19 JOHN LA FARGE (American 1835-1910) Dawn.-Allegorical Study in Water Color, circa 1883 Watercolor and gouache on heavy buff paper 12 1/8 x 4 3/4 inches Literature Moore’s Art Gallery, Catalogue of a Collection of Oil and Water Color Paintings by John La Farge, New York, 26-27 March 1885, no. 87 Note This painting is to be included in the Henry A. La Farge, James L. Yarnall and Mary A. La Farge catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work. Catalogue Note “An exact study for a figure in one of a pair of windows made around 1883 for Arabella Worsham of New York (later Mrs. Collis Potter Huntington). The windows are now in the American Academy for Arts & Letters on 155th Street in New York where they were donated anonymously in 1925 by her son, Archer Milton Huntington (who took his step-father’s name).” -Letter from James Yarnall to Thomas Colville on April 24th, 1998. 44 45 Plate 20 JOHN LA FARGE (American 1835-1910) On the beach. Satapuala. Upolu, Samoa. Moonlight., circa 1891 Watercolor on paper 7 x 9 1/2 inches Provenance Mrs. John Briggs Potter, 1954 | William Vareika Fine Arts, Newport, Rhode Island | Private Collection, Rhode Island, until 2011 Exhibited New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Paintings, Studies, Sketches and Drawings, Mostly Records of Travel 1886 and 1890-91 by John La Farge, 25 February – 25 March 1895, no. 81 | Paris, Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Études, esquisses, dessins, Souvenirs et notes de voyage (1886 et 1890-91) par John La Farge, 24 April – May 1895, no. 80 as Sur la plage – Satapuala, Upolu, Samoa (clair de lune) | Newport, Rhode Island, William Vareika Fine Arts Ltd., John La Farge: American Artistic Genius and Renaissance Man (1835-1910), 28 August – 30 November 2009, as Samoa, Sail by Moonlight, no. W46 46 47 Plate 21 HENRI LE SIDANER (French 1862-1939) Camille Le Sidaner, Epouse de L’Artiste, circa 1907 Graphite pencil, color pencil and conte crayon on paper 5 3/4 x 6 7/8 inches Signed Le Sidaner lower left Provenance Galleries Maurice Sternberg, Chicago, Illinois Exhibited Camille Mauclair, Le Sidaner, G. Petit, Paris, 1928, illustrated pg. 58 | Yann Farinaux, preface by Rémy La Sidaner, Le Sidaner: L’Oeuvre peint et gravé, Paris, André Sauret, 1989, p. 325, no. 968, illustrated Note A postcard from Henri Le Sidaner to Monsieur Louis Le Sidaner, the artist’s grandson, accompanies this work. 48 49 Plate 22 GEORGES LEMMEN (Belgian 1865-1916) Portrait of a Girl Charcoal on paper 12 1/4 x 11 inches Stamped with estate stamp and numbered lower left 50 51 Plate 23 GIORGIO MORANDI (Italian 1890-1964) Paesaggio, Casa Bruciata, 1959 Watercolor and graphite on paper 13 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches Provenance Alitalia Collection, Rome | Sale: Finarte, Rome, December 8, 2009, lot 134 Catalogue Note Although Morandi began working in watercolor in 1915, it was not until the last eight years of his life, when he retired from teaching, that he produced the majority of his works in this medium. As with his still lifes, Morandi often created a series of variations on a single subject in his landscapes. In Paesaggio, Casa Bruciata, one of at least four variants on the subject of a nearby house, the artist was concerned with the formal elements rather than the pictorial aspects of the scene. Morandi’s admiration for Cézanne, expressed here in pale liquid passages and the negative space suggested with the bare sheet, is informed by his own exquisite sense of balance between abstraction and representation to create this glowing image. 52 53 Plate 24 GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (American 1887-1986) Untitled (Grey Wash Forms), 1936 Pencil on paper 6 x 9 inches Signed and inscribed For Mary-I love you/-Georgia on verso Provenance The artist | Gift from the above to Mary Callery, New York, 1943 | By descent to the later owner from the above, 1978-2008 | The estate of Baroness Marcella Korff, until 2009 Literature B.B. Lynes, Georgia O’Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 1, New Haven, Connecticut, 1999, p. 560, no. 896, illustrated 54 55 Plate 25 WALTER SICKERT (British 1860-1942) Modes & Lingerie: A Shop in Dieppe, circa 1885 Oil on panel 9 3/8 x 5 5/8 inches Signed Sickert lower left Provenance Terence Rattigan, London | To William Forsyth, London, circa 1950 | By descent to his daughter, London 56 57 Plate 26 JOSEPH STELLA (American 1877-1946) Painter’s Row: Dark Bedroom Charcoal on paper 12 1/2 x 16 inches Signed J. Stella lower right Provenance Richard York Gallery, New York, 1993 | The collection of Dodie Rosekrans, San Francisco Literature Elizabeth Crowell, Painter’s Row, The Survery, vol. xxi, January 6, 1909, p. 910, p. 910 | Irma B. Jaffee, Joseph Stella, 1970, p. 21, 176, 217, no. 16, illustrated | John I.H. Bsur, Joseph Stella, 1971, p. 26, no. 9, illustrated | Joann Moser, Visual Poetry: The Drawings of Joseph Stella, 1990, p. 40, 43, 50, no. 48, illustrated Exhibited New York, Whitney Museum of Art, Joseph Stella, 1963, no. 67 | Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum, Visual Poetry: The Drawings of Joseph Stella, February 23– April 22, 1990 58 59 Plate 27 DWIGHT WILLIAM TRYON (American 1849-1925) Autumn Sunset, 1898-99 Oil on panel 17 1/2 x 25 1/4 inches Signed and dated D W Tryon 1898-9 lower left Provenance Private collection, California 60 61 Plate 28 DWIGHT WILLIAM TRYON (American 1849-1925) Seascape at Twilight, 1915 Pastel on paper 9 x 13 1/2 inches Signed and dated D.W. Tryon 1915 lower left 62 63 Plate 29 JOHN HENRY TWACHTMAN (American 1853-1902) River under the Hills at Arques-la-Bataille, circa 1884 Oil on canvas 15 x 22 inches Inscribed J.H. Twachtman / signed by / T.W. Dewing lower left Provenance Estate of the artist | N.E. Montross, New York | American Art Association, American Art Galleries, New York, February 27, 1919 | Milch Galleries, New York, by 1921 | American Art Association, New York, January 28-29, 1926, lot 149 | American Art Association, New York, January 19, 1933, lot 77 | Babcock Gallery, New York | To Reverend Van Hess, 1936 | Amory Goddard, Sharon, Massachusetts | By descent to his granddaughters, until 2013 Literature American Art Association, New York, The Notable Collection of American Paintings belonging to Mr. N.E. Montross, sale catalogue, lot 40, illustrated | John Douglas Hale, The Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman, Ohio State University, 1957, vol. 2, catalogue G, p. 464-465, no. 330A & 330B, both as Lake Under the Hills | Lisa N. Peters, John Twachtman (1853-1902) and the American Scene in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Frontier within the Terrain of the Familiar, 2 vols., Ph.D. Dissertation, City University of New York, 1955 Exhibited Dallas Art Association, Adolphus Hotel, Texas, Second Annual Exhibition: American and European Art, April 7-21, 1921, no. 272, as The Lake Under the Hill Note This painting is to be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work being compiled by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D. and Ira Spanierman. Catalogue Note Although Twachtman’s earliest work reflected the dark palette of his Munich training, he had adopted lighter colors by the time he painted this panoramic river view of the Normandy countryside. One of only six known examples of this subject, the most famous of which is in the Metropolitan Museum, this recently rediscovered work was originally chosen for his own private collection by the artist’s dealer, Newman Montross, where it remained until his death. Bathed in the hazy atmosphere of summer, the quiet stillness of this tranquil scene is suggested through Twachtman’s softly rendered linear forms, thin veils of bluish hues, and the mirrored reflection, gently punctuated by the ragged outline of the wild flowers in the foreground. 64 65 Plate 30 JOHN HENRY TWACHTMAN (American 1853-1902) Sailing in the Mist, circa 1895 Oil on canvas 30 x 21 inches Provenance Estate of the artist | By descent to the artist’s granddaughter, Phyllis Twachtman, Brooklyn, New York | Ira Spanierman, Inc., New York | Jacqueline Getty, Los Angeles | Geneva Marie Washburn Trust, Newport Beach, CA, after 1974 | Sale: Butterfield & Butterfield, Los Angeles, CA, 12 November 1987, lot 2263 | Private Collection, Santa Barbara, CA |Property of the Barnard Estate Literature Stephen May, Visual Poetry: The Landscapes of John Henry Twachtman, Art & Antiques, Feb. 2000, p. 87 | Lisa N. Peters, John Twachtman: A Painter’s Painter, New York, Spanierman Gallery, LLC, p. 39, 172-173, no. 47, illustrated Exhibited Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, American Painting in Los Angeles Collections, May 7-Jun. 30, 1974, lent by Mrs. Jacqueline Getty (Mrs. George F. Getty II) | New York, Spanierman Gallery, LLC, John Twachtman: A Painter’s Painter: Perceptions of Realism and Impressionism (1878-1902), 4 May – 24 June 2006 Note This painting is to be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work being compiled by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D. and Ira Spanierman. Catalogue Note Whistler’s minimalist aesthetic and Monet’s painterly brushwork, the seminal influences on John Henry Twachtman’s style, are immediately recognizable in Sailing in the Mist, one in a series of four versions of what is perhaps his most memorable image. Much as Whistler ethereally floated his pastels across a toned paper, Twachtman rhythmically scattered feathery scumbles of delicate hues across his tannish ground to create depth and atmosphere in this magical evocation of a small boat dissolving into an infinite expanse of water and air. 66 67 Plate 31 JULIAN ALDEN WEIR (American 1852-1919) Anna Arranging Flowers, circa 1890 Oil on canvas 33 3/4 x 24 inches Provenance The artist | Mrs. Gregory Smith, granddaughter of the artist, Old Lyme, CT, until 1998 | Caroline Bick, her daughter, until 2005 | Julian Bick, her son, until present 68 69