24 - UARY 31 JANVIERRUARY 2027

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Artworks

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Galeries
Galeries Galerie AB - Agnès Aittouarès Franck Anelli Fine Art Ars Antiqua d'Arschot & Cie Art et Patrimoine - Laurence Lenne Arte-Fact Fine Art Artimo Fine Arts Galerie Ary Jan Galerie BA - Berthet Aittouarès HELENE BAILLY MARCILHAC Véronique Bamps Barbara Bassi Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art Galerie de la Béraudière Galerie Berès Bernier/Eliades Galeria Bessa Pereira Galerie BG Arts Boon Gallery Galerie Alexis Bordes Bernard Bouisset Galerie Boulakia Galerie Nicolas Bourriaud Brame & Lorenceau Cabinet of Curiosities - Honourable Silver Objects Galerie Capazza Giammarco Cappuzzo Fine Art Carlucci Gallery Galerie Jean-François Cazeau Galerie Cento Anni Chambre professionnelle belge de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (CLAM) Citadelles & Mazenod CKS Gallery Claes Gallery Collectors Gallery COLNAGHI Costermans Dalton Somaré De Brock De Jonckheere Galerie Bernard De Leye Galerie Oscar De Vos De Wit Fine Tapestries De Zutter Art Gallery Dei Bardi Art Thomas Deprez Fine Arts Patrick Derom Gallery Desmet Fine Arts Virginie Devillez Fine Art DIE GALERIE Douwes Fine Art b.v. Epoque Fine Jewels Finch & Co Galerie Flak A&R Fleury Galerie La Forest Divonne Galerie Christophe Gaillard Galerie des Modernes Gilden's Art Gallery Grusenmeyer-Woliner Galerie Hadjer Galerie Haesaerts-le Grelle Philippe Heim Heutink Ikonen Galerie Hioco Hoffmans Antiques Huberty & Breyne Galerie Hurtebize rodolphe janssen Francis Janssens van der Maelen Kunsthaus Kende Harold t’Kint de Roodenbeke Florian Kolhammer Hartford Fine Art - Lampronti Gallery Alexis Lartigue Lemaire Galerie Lowet de Wotrenge Francis Maere Fine Arts Maison D'Art Maisonjaune Studio Martins&Montero Martos Gallery MARUANI MERCIER MassModernDesign Galerie Mathivet Mearini Fine Art Galerie Greta Meert Meessen Galerie la Ménagerie Mulier Mulier Gallery Jan Muller Antiques Klaas Muller NARDI VENEZIA Nosbaum Reding Dr. Nöth kunsthandel Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels Objects With Narratives Galeria Jordi Pascual Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach Pauline's Jewellery Box Pelgrims de Bigard Galerie Alexis Pentcheff Christophe Perlès Galerie Perrin Guy Pieters Gallery Gallery de Potter d’Indoye Galerie de la Présidence Pron Van Pruissen Asian Art QG Gallery Maison Rapin Almine Rech Stéphane Renard Fine Art Repetto Gallery robertaebasta Romigioli Antichità Laurent Schaubroeck Serge Schoffel - Art Premier Segoura Fine Art Edouard Simoens Gallery Herwig Simons Fine Arts Stern Pissarro Gallery Stone Gallery Galerie Taménaga TASCHEN TEMPLON The old Treasury Galerie Patrice Trigano unforget Decorative Arts Univers du Bronze Vagabond Antiques Gallery Sofie Van de Velde Van Herck-Eykelberg Galerie Raf Van Severen Samuel Vanhoegaerden Gallery Maurice Verbaet Gallery Galerie von Vertes Axel Vervoordt Galerie Dina Vierny VKD Jewels Galerie Florence de Voldère N. Vrouyr Floris van Wanroij Fine Art Galerie Watteeu by Edouard & Andrea de Caters Victor Werner WHITFORD Willow Gallery
 

Douwes Fine Art b.v.

rembrandt van rijn

Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606-1669 Amsterdam) Self-Portrait in a Cap, Wide-Eyed and Open-Mouthed, 1630 Etching and drypoint on laid paper 5.4 x 4.6 cm Signed in monogram and dated lower centre: RHL 1630 Plate not in existence – with Nowell-Usticke (1967): RRR – a very rare little plate Provenance: private collection, Germany; private collection, The Netherlands Literature: Bartsch 320; Hind 32; The New Hollstein Dutch n° 69: Second state (of II) This is a small masterpiece of Rembrandt's early etchings. The expression of this physiognomic study made by his etching needle could not be more livelike as the facial expression (perhaps "astonishment") is in perfect harmony with the round shape of the face. Rembrandt knows exactly how to hit every tonal gradation with fine, arching strokes. Of all the self-portraits in which Rembrandt depicts emotions, this one is probably the most engaging. He looks startled here, with pursed lips and wide-open eyes. You see him slightly from below, so that he seems to be recoiling. The etching is clearly executed and clever, with the contours of the shoulders and the cap fading into the edges. During his lifetime, Rembrandt's extraordinary skills as a printmaker were the main source of his international fame. Unlike his oil paintings, prints travelled light and were relatively cheap. For this reason, they soon became very popular with collectors not only within but also beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Rembrandt's etchings are remarkable for their high number of self-portraits (over 30 out of about 290). These are particularly collectible, perhaps due to the smaller number of states as well as the artist's compelling and powerful presence. Unlike his stately religious scenes, or regal, posed portraits of others, which exhibit his careful and calculating brilliance as an etcher, Rembrandt's self-portraits reveal him as an artist and a man. In them he assumes the role of the experimenting artist, approaching the most difficult of subjects - himself. These self-portraits are often described as ethereal and wistful for their notable contrasting areas of high and low etched space. A very fine impression of this famous small portrait in the second (final) state, printing clearly, just beginning to show a little wear on the tip of the nose, with narrow margins.

 

Galerie Perrin

oskar bergman

Oskar Bergman (Stockholm 1879-1963 Saltsjöbaden) The Lagan from Laholm, 1925 Watercolour and gouache on paper 19 x 30.5 cm Signed and dated lower right: Oskar Bergman, Lagan Fran Lahollni, April 1925 Provenance: private collection There are artists who throw themselves wholeheartedly into the various currents during the course of their lives, following the frenetic rhythm of fashions, becoming the icons of an historical moment or a particular group. Others, conversely, take a vow of fidelity to their nature, far removed from the ephemeral unfolding of art, working and meditating as if in a kind of reclusion on a subject to which they devote their entire work. Oskar Bergman belongs to the latter category. His long and prolific career was nothing more than a variation on the theme of landscape, interpreted in a highly personal style that is instantly recognisable, the result of his self-taught training and few outside influences.

 

Galerie La Forest Divonne

ronan barrot

Ronan Barrot (France, 1973) Paysage Blessé, 2024 Oil on canvas 162 x 97 cm Provenance: the artist's studio

 

Collectors Gallery

claude wesel

Claude Wesel (Belgium, 1942-2014) Pectoral, 1970 18ct gold, pearl, diamond and steel Model #3000 Unique piece Provenance: the artist's family Exhibition: 'Memories' exh. held by Sotheby's Brussels in spring 2025

 

The old Treasury

puppo di puma

Puppo di Puma brooch with moveable wings 18k yellow and white gold, enamel and circa 2.5ct brilliant-cut diamond Alessandria, Italy, circa 1990

 

Art et Patrimoine - Laurence Lenne

Reliquary 'in the form of a sarcophagus with a hinged roof' Limoges, mid-13th century Gilt copper plates, champlevé enamels H 11.8 x W 27.5 x D 9.5 cm Literature: Inventaire général des monuments et des richesses artistiques de la France. Emaux limousins du Moyen Age. Correze/Creuse/Haute-Vienne, under the direction of Paul-Édouard Robinne, Éditions de l’Inventaire, Images du Patrimoine, 1995; Emaux de Limoges XIIè-XIXè siècle, under the direction of Jacques Toussaint, Museum of Ancient Arts of Namur, 1996; Valérie & Thomas Becket, De l'influence des princes Plantagenêt dans l'Oeuvre de Limoges, Municipal Museum of the Bishop’s Palace-Museum of Enamel, Limoges, 1999 A reliquary, without a wooden core, taking the shape of a sarcophagus with a hinged roof. It is made of gilt copper plates and decorated with champlevé enamels depicting sixteen half-length angels emerging from clouds against a white enamel background. The decoration consists of two superimposed registers of three engraved gilt angels set within round medallions. The medallions stand out against a blue enamel ground adorned with gilded Gothic foliage and interlace patterns. This reliquary belongs to a series of standardised reliquaries known from the Limousin region, all dating from the 13th century. Its dimensions make it one of the largest examples of this 'sarcophagus with movable roof' type. It is closely related to the exceptional large reliquary of Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, classified as part of the Treasure of the French Historic Monuments.

 

Stern Pissarro Gallery

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Limoges 1841-1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer) Femme dans un paysage, 1917 Oil on canvas 25.3 x 39.7 cm Stamped lower right: Renoir Provenance: the artist's estate; Palais Galliera, Paris, 18 March 1964, (titled 'Gabrielle au jardin'); Hôtel George V, Paris, 10 December 1996, (titled 'Paysage'); private collection, Italy Literature: Marc Elder, L'Atelier de Renoir, vol. II, L'Atelier de Renoir (n.p.: MM. Bernheim-Jeune, Editeurs d'Art, 1931), n° 59 (ill. pl. 187, first state, titled as 'Paysage, bouquet'); Albert André, Marc Elder, and Messrs. Bernheim-Jeune, Renoir's Atelier / L'Atelier de Renoir, Rev. ed. (Paris: MM. Bernheim-Jeune, Éditeurs d'Art, Paris; San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1989), n° 599, p. 243 (ill. pl. 187, first state, titled as 'Paysage, bouquet'); Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. V, 1911-1919 (Paris: Éditions Bernheim-Jeune, 2014), no. 3981, p. 204 (ill. p. 204, present state, as "Paysage du Midi") Exhibitions: Paris, Galerie Jean Charpentier, Beautés de la Provence, 17 December 1947-7 March 1948, n° 129 (titled as "Gabrielle au jardin," dated circa 1915) This work is accompanied by letter from the Wildenstein-Plattner Institute confirming the work will be included in the forthcoming Renoir digital catalogue raisonné.

 

QG Gallery

alain biltereyst

Alain Biltereyst (Brussels, 1965) Untitled, 356-4, 2025 Acrylic on plywood 118 x 87.5 cm

 

Desmet Fine Arts

giovanni & giacomo zoffoli

Giacomo (Italy, 1731-1785) & Giovanni Zoffoli (Italy, 1745-1805) Capitoline Flora, late 18th century Bronze H 34 x W 10 x D 7 cm Signed 'G.Z.F' (base) After the antique model (Capitoline Musea, Rome) Accompanied by Art Loss Register certificate: S00247973 Other versions: Victoria & Albert: Museum inv. n° A.14-1974; Saltram, National Trust, 871621.4; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Acc # 1978-70-139; Oxford, Ashmolean Museum: Acc # WA1899.CDEF.B449

 

Galerie BG Arts

Georges Clairin (Paris 1843-1919 Clohars-Carnoët) Portrait of Suzanne Lalique Oil on canvas 140 x 80 cm Signed 'Á Suzanne Lalique son ami G. Clairin' Provenance: property of Suzanne Lalique-Haviland; private collection, France Literature: Maritch-Haviland, N. de Léobardy, C., Lalique-Haviland-Burty Family Portraits, Limoges, 2009, p. 29, ill. in a group photograph, taken at Cours-la-Reine in Paris, showing Suzanne Lalique wearing this same dress for a costume ball to mark her birthday in about 1913 Georges Clairin is best remembered as an orientialist and portrait artist. He was a close friend and advisor to René Lalique. They regularly had dinner together and shared an interest in oriental objects, as well as travelling together to Venice. Clairin belonged to the bohemian world and painted Sarah Bernhardt, the celebrated actress of the day, in her different roles on numerous occasions. He also introduced her to Lalique, and she became one of Lalique’s most significant patrons for whom he designed jewellery. For both men, women were a constant theme of their work. As a family friend it is not surprising that Clairin should have painted Suzanne, René Lalique’s daughter, in costume for her birthday ball in 1913.

 

Galerie BA - Berthet Aittouarès

pierre tal coat

Pierre Tal Coat (Clohars-Carnoët 1905-1985 Saint-Pierre-de-Bailleul) Untitled, 1968-1969 Oil on paint tube lid H 18.5 x W 9.5 x D 4.5 cm This work is listed in Tal Coat's online catalogue raisonné under number XD-1969-017 Provenance: private collection Literature: Rodari Florian, Pierre Tal Coat Biographie commentée par les textes, edited by the Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Département du Morbihan, 2017; Marc Donnadieu, Anne de Staël, Pierre Tal Coat - Surgissement de la peinture, exhibition's catalogue, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, 2023 Exhibitions: Pierre Tal Coat - Surgissement de la peinture, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, 2023; Tal Coat - L'image est émergence, 21 bis Mirabeau, espace culturel départemental, Aix-en-Provence, 2025

 

Gilden's Art Gallery

Gino Severini (Italy, Cortona 1883-1966 Paris, France) The dancer, 1959 Tempera painting on wove paper 39.5 x 28.5 cm Signed lower right 'G. Severini' and dedicated in pencil ‘al caro vecchio amico Raffaele Carrieri, affectuoso riccordi di Gino Severini’ [to a dear old friend Raffaelle Carrieri, with affectionate memories, Gino Severini] in the lower right corner The work comes with a photo-certificate of authenticity by Romana Severini Brunori dated 13 May 2025 Provenance: the celebrated poet Raffaele Carrieri (1905-1984); private collection, Milan

 

Galerie AB - Agnès Aittouarès

jean-paul riopelle

Jean-Paul Riopelle (Montréal 1923-2002 Saint-Antoine-de-l'Isle-aux-Grues) Composition, 1964 Gouache on paper 46 x 67 cm Signed and dated lower right Provenance: French-Canadian private collection; private collection, Paris Literature: Pierre Schneider, Riopelle. Signes mêlés, Maeght éditeur, Paris, 1972, no. 124, p. 119; Catalogue of the exhibition 'Les Très riches heures de Jean Paul Riopelle', Musée Le Chafaud, Percée, 2000, reproduced on p. 23; Yseult Riopelle, Jean-Paul Riopelle. Catalogue raisonné, volume 3, Hibou Éditeurs, Montreal, 2004, p. 302, reproduced in colour under reference 1964.010P.1964 Exhibitions: Riopelle. Mixed Signs, Maeght Gallery, 1972; The Very Rich Hours of Jean Paul Riopelle, Le Chafaud Museum, Percée, 2000

 

Francis Janssens van der Maelen

Maurice Daurat (Bordeaux 1880-1969 Meulan-en-Yvelines) Art Deco table centrepiece Paris, circa 1927-1931 Sterling silver, Macassar ebony, marble H 42.5 x W 104 x D 20 cm This striking early 20th century French silver and alabaster centrepiece on a Macassar ebony base is a superb example of Art Deco design. Designed by Maurice Daurat in Paris, circa 1927-1931. Maurice Daurat was famous for his limited editions and large commissioned works. His style is characterised by geometrical, strict shaping, emphasising volume and material.

 

Boon Gallery

antony gormley

strain ii

British School Executed in 2022 Unique work Cast iron 183 x 39 x 51 cm / 72 x 15.3 x 20 in Certificate of authenticity by artist Antony Gormley, 2024

 

Gallery Sofie Van de Velde

René Magritte (Lessines 1898-1967 Brussels) La Gorgone, 1943 Coloured pencil on paper 14 x 18.8 cm Signed lower right. With certificate of the Comité René Magritte CM 2021/2/18 dated 26 October 2021

 

COLNAGHI

Nicolaas Struyck (Amsterdam, 1686-1769) A rose with garden whites, circa 1715 With partial Fleur-de-lis watermark Bodycolour and watercolour on paper with period black and gold ruled beige card mount 23.8 x 19.2 cm Provenance: private collection, Germany until 2023

 

Franck Anelli Fine Art

claude corneille de lyon

Claude Corneille de Lyon (The Netherlands, The Hague 1500-1575 Lyon, France) Portrait of a wealthy merchant wearing a fur-lined coat and gold chain, circa 1560 Oil on panel 15 x 18 cm Certificate from Dr. Alexandra Zvereva This painting will be included in the supplement to the artist's forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné This unpublished small portrait fits naturally into the later works of one of the most illustrious portraitists of the French Renaissance. Referred to in contemporary documents by the name of his hometown, La Haye, he later became known simply as 'Corneille' until André Félibien, who believed him to be from the banks of the Rhône, added the name 'Lyon' in the index of his Entretiens. Born and trained in the Netherlands, probably in Flanders, the artist settled in Lyon as early as 1533. There, he succeeded Jean Perréal, the portraitist of Charles VIII and Louis XII, renowned for his intimate portraits with coloured backgrounds. By the mid-1530s, Corneille had gained such fame that he found himself painting the courtiers accompanying the king to Lyon, as well as the Sons and Daughters of France. However, unlike Perréal, his career was not that of a royal artist following the court. He never left Lyon, and his titles of "painter to the Dauphin" and later "painter and ordinary valet to the king" were purely honorary, primarily granting him the privileges of royal officers. The prominent citizens of Lyon, wealthy French and foreign merchants, high-ranking royal officers, well-to-do bourgeois, and magistrates made up the bulk of his clientele. Corneille created small-scale portraits for them, painted in just a few sitting sessions directly onto panels. Intended for family and close associates, these works had no official circulation and existed in only one unique copy, unlike portraits of the nobility, of which Corneille often made replicas that were widely circulated. The subject of this portrait is not a nobleman, despite his evident wealth. His attire is simple, a dark brown-black without any ornamentation, slashing, or jewels. The white ruff of his shirt is not starched. His high cap, fashionable in the 1550s-1560s, lacks a plume, a privilege reserved for the nobility, as it was associated with the feathers adorning knights' helmets. However, the man does possess a certain fortune, as evidenced by his fur-lined cloak of marten with wide lapels and a large gold chain with three rows of links, favoured by the Flemish. The medallion on the chain is cropped by the frame. This is almost certainly a prosperous merchant, eager to demonstrate his success and preserve the memory of his features for his family. The absence of any inscription on the reverse, giving the name of the subject, makes identification impossible, since no replica or engraving exists. Despite previous restorations, particularly to the face and background, the distinctive characteristics of Corneille’s art are clearly visible here, such as the rough sketching of the ear, the sloping shoulders that make the head appear slightly disproportionate to the torso, the treatment of the hair with individual strands, the brilliant irises crossed by an oblique ray of light, and the broader brushstrokes in the clothing.

 

Edouard Simoens Gallery

christo and jeanne-claude

Christo (Bulgaria 1935-2020 New York) and Jeanne-Claude (Casablanca 1935-2009 New York) The Pont Neuf Wrapped (Project for Paris), 1985 Pencil, charcoal, pastel, wax crayon, and technical data 144 x 165 cm (overall) Provenance: Wolfgang Volz collection; private collection Literature: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Water Projects, Silvana 2016, p. 167

 

Pron

alice gavalet

Alice Gavalet (France, 1978) Buffet, 2025 Wood, brass, glazed and engobed earthenware H 90 x W 154 x D 44 cm

 

Herwig Simons Fine Arts

Large Siena marble models from the Roman Forum Rome, circa 1800 H 87 cm Provenance: former noble collection, The Netherlands Fine and unusual large grand tour Siena marble models of the Temple of Castor and Pollux,
and the Temple of Vespasian, from the Roman forum. Made as souvenirs for visitors on the Grand Tour in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

 

Almine Rech

vivian springford

untitled

Vivian Springford (USA, Wisconsin 1913-2003 New York) Untitled, circa 1973 Acrylic on canvas 182.9 x 183.5 x 3.2 cm Provenance: estate of the artist Exhibition: Almine Rech, 'Gesture & Form: Women in Abstraction', May 3rd - June 15th, 2024, New York, Upper East Side Vivian Springford’s 'Untitled', circa 1973, encapsulates the American painter’s expressive, vibrant style. During the late 1960s, Springford had come into her own as an artist. She had developed a signature visual vocabulary and a technique of stain painting to go with it, working with thinned paint to create kaleidoscopic, gestural works.

 

Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach

Thomas Devaux (Marcq-en-Barœul, 1980) Rayon 8.1 Parties 1,2,3, 2017 Fine art paper, pigment print, frame zith 22, gold leaf 300 x 120 cm Edition 2/2 + 2 AP

 

De Zutter Art Gallery

corneille

Corneille (Liège 1922-2010 Auvers-sur-Oise) Le rouge itinéraire de l'été, 1964 Oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm Provenance: Galerie Delta, Rotterdam; kunsthandel Lambert Tegenbosch, Heusden; collection Dr. Johan B.W. Polak (1928-1992), Amsterdam; Christie's, Amsterdam, 10 December 1992, lot n° 325; private collection, Switzerland Literature: Catalogue Galerie Cimaise Bonaparte (Patrick d'Elme and Daniel Templon), 1967, Paris Exhibition: Galerie Cimaise Bonaparte (Patrick d'Elme and Daniel Templon), 1967, Paris

 

Collectors Gallery

Arman (Nice 1928-2005 New York) Capricorn brooch in gold Zodiac collection, 1994 Certificate of authenticity and copy of the artist’s original drawing on the letterhead of the Hôtel Lutetia, where the artist resided and designed the models for this collection Provenance: Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier, successor to Editions Artcurial

 

Galeria Bessa Pereira

Sergio Rodrigues (Rio de Janeiro, 1927–2014) 'Kilin' chair, 1970s Solid wood, leather H 68 x W 68 x D 68 cm Origin: Brasil Provenance: private collection, Rio de Janeiro; Galeria Bessa Pereira collection Literature: Vicente, A., & Vasconcellos, M. (Comps.), Móvel moderno brasileiro (1st edition), São Paulo: Olhares, 2017, p. 302; Cals, S, Sergio Rodrigues, Rio de Janeiro: Icatu, 2000, p. 142

 

robertaebasta

Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte (Bressuire 1908-1969 Neuilly-sur-Seine) Pair of wall lamps, Italy, 1950s Tapered brass fitting, blue beveled glass, frosted glass H 41.5 x W 17.5 x D 10 cm (each)

 

Repetto Gallery

valerio adami

Valerio Adami (Bologna, 1935) La firma del muro antico, Odisseo (per E. Pound), 1977 Acrylic on canvas 204 x 152 cm Signed, dated and titled on the reverse: Adami 8.8.77 17.11.77 La firma del muro antico. Odisseo (per E. Pound) Label on the reverse by Galerie Rive Gauche Marcel Strouk, Paris Certificate of authenticity by Archivio Valerio Adami n° 878 Provenance: Galerie Maeght, Paris; private collection, France (acquired from the above) Exhibition: Valerio Adami, 7 October-12 November 1978, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi; Valerio Adami. Ripensando la realtà, Dep Art Gallery, Milan, 6 March-17 May 2025

 

Galerie Cento Anni

andré lanskoy

André Lanskoy (Moscow 1903-1976 Paris) Un cas suspect, 1964 Oil on canvas 97 x 146 cm Signed and dated 'Lanskoy 64' Provenance: Galerie de Seine; private collection, Paris Certificate of authenticity from the Comité Lanskoy dated 4 April 2025 This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné currently in preparation

 

Galerie Alexis Pentcheff

pierre bonnard

Pierre Bonnard (Fontenay-aux-Roses 1867-1947 Le Cannet) Promenade à Paris, circa 1911 Oil on canvas 40 x 60 cm Estate stamp lower left Provenance: collection of Pierre and Marie-Françoise Vernon Literature: Dauberville Jean et Henry, Bonnard, Vol. IV, Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1974, repr. p. 312 under n° 01992 Exhibitions: Pierre Bonnard, A. Tooth & Sons, London, 17 June-12 July 1969, repr. in exh. cat. n° 8; Matisse e Bonnard. Viva la pittura!, Rome, 2006, repr. in exh. cat. (ed. Skira) p. 340 under n° 125; Bonnard, Le Cannet, une évidence, Musée Bonnard, Le Cannet, 2020, repr. in exh. cat. p. 42 The creation of this work by Pierre Bonnard reminds us that the artist was also a photographer, experimenting with daring compositions. Though his painting captures the fleeting moment, it shares little with the tentative realism of early photography. Made entirely of color and sensation, it constructs a fragile world of subtle harmony. Just before embracing the South - before letting the Mediterranean light burst into color across his canvases - Bonnard explored a quieter, more muted sensuality in the early 1910s, while working in a studio in Paris, not far from the avenue depicted here. The “very Japanese Nabi,” as his friends from the group of his youth liked to call him, knew how to let color whisper on the canvas, how to conjure the intimacy of a letter. On one side of the painting, cool tones — blues and violets placed side by side - contrast with the russet hues of this autumnal Parisian avenue, bringing to the foreground, beneath a hat bathed in light like a reinvented halo, the lowered face of a woman reading. Her eyes are hidden, absorbed in the text. Though she has removed her gloves, she surely no longer feels the sharp chill of that November afternoon… Elegant silhouettes glide through the landscape; yet they endure — along with this hat-wearing heroine - on our retinas and in our memories, as companions to a shared intimacy, lasting only the time it takes to read a love letter. Unseen on the art market since the 1960s, this painting has been shown in several museum exhibitions, the most recent in 2020 at the Musée du Cannet, dedicated to the artist.

 
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