Rediscovery of a Pissarro painting illustrating his artistic exchanges with Cézanne
Download the press release
Cézanne and Pissarro kept up a veritable pictorial dialogue and Camille Pissarro’s painting entitled ‘Jardin potager à l’Hermitage, Pontoise’, demonstrates these interactions perfectly. But when this painting arrived at the auction house, its creator was still unknown. The research conducted by Ader auction house allowed thisoil on canvas to join Pissarro’s official body of work. Thispreviously unseen painting by the impressionist artist will be put up for auction on the 22nd November 2019 with an estimated price of 100,000 to 120,000 euros.
“After more than a year and a half of research, we have been able to prove that this anonymous oil on canvas truly was a Camille Pissarro (1830-1930) work. ‘Le jardin de Maubuisson, l’Hermitage, Pontoise’ therefore has become part of the painter’s officialbody of work and will feature in the artist’s catalogue raisonné ”, revealed auctioneers David Nordmann and Xavier Dominique while announcing the date the 22nd November 2019 for the auction of this painting estimated at 100,000 to 120,000 euros in Paris, Drouot. “This is a completely new discovery, no documentation existed on this painting”, indicated Claire Durand Ruel, Pissarro specialistand expert. To confirm the authenticity of this anonymous canvas, Ader auction house carried out different technical and scientificexaminations, as well as detailed comparisons with other Pissarropaintings. These in-depth analyses have allowed this work to be officially attributed to the impressionist artist.
A signature Pissarro painting
A perfectly recognizable style of painting
When Nicolas Nouvelet, in charge of Ader’s office at Neuilly, discovered the painting for the first time, still anonymous, brought in by a client, his intuition felt it must be the workof a painter of great talent. “I was fascinated by this perfectlymastered technique, by this succession of extremely fineand overlaid tiny brushstrokes which create a real colourful harmony. Rarely have I seen such precise and meticulous brushstrokes.” Claire Durand Ruel, who gave her agreement to allow the canvas to be included in Pissarro’s catalogue raisonnéconfirmed his intuition. “His way of painting and his stroke are perfectly recognizable”, observed the art historian.
Analysis of a technique specific to theartist
To add relief to his canvases, Pissarro deliberately retains a tinyunpainted surface around certain elements of the composition(trees, houses) to intensify the volumes. These contours left “in reserve” were easy to spot in the analyses. On a negative note, they have the appearance of dark rings around the painted forms. Pissarro’s painting identified by Ader auction house has consequently been subjected to an analysis which confirmedthe use of contours in reserve: “the same dark rings appear, notably, when it comes to the trees in the orchard”, specifiedNicolas Nouvelet.
Pontoise, the birthplace of impressionism
A work characteristic of Impressionism
Introduced in the 1870s, Impressionism would only last a decade. The painting presented at auction by Ader auctionhouse, having been produced around 1880, it enters intothe movement’s short period of activity. Its creator, Pissarro,is in addition considered to be one of the founders of Impressionism. And Pontoise, the place where this paintingwas produced “en plein air”, is one of the rural sites of the Île-de-France appreciated by impressionist painters. As for the small visible strokes of paint, the original frame and the care taken for the reproduction of light, all these elementsconstitute the fundamentals of the pictorial academic movement.
A similar painting by Pissarro
Prolific artist, producer of more than 1,500 works, Camille Pissarro painted numerous views of Pontoise, a certainnumber of which are now exhibited in the Musée d’Orsay. The museum notably exhibits a similar painting to ‘Jardin Potager à l’Hermitage, Pontoise’ which incidentally has thesame name. “The visual comparison between these two Pissarro works reveals an entirely similar composition, with a horizontal axis separating the painting into a lower part, the cultivated land, and an upper part, the houses and the sky. We have been able to observe in both of these paintings that the colours of the lower part, the colours of the ground, the “red” the “purple” and the “violet” were re-used in the upper part”, explained Ader auction house.
Symbolising the value of work
Painting the rural landscapes of Pontoise and its surroundingsallowed Pissarro to depict everyday rural life. “If you look attentively at the painting, a farmer can be seen behind the trees, bent over, no doubt busy weeding or sowing seeds in that plot left fallow. This tribute to agricultural activity, simultaneously discrete and precise, is a testament to the importance that Pissarro accorded to the value of work”, observes Nicholas Nouvelet. “As for the thousands of little brushstrokes applied to the canvas, their accumulation creates a certain thickness which resembles plowed earth...”
An illustration of the artistic dialogue between Cézanne and Pissarro
The twin of a work by Cézanne
In 2006, the Musée d’Orsay organized an exhibit entitled‘Cézanne et Pissarro 1865-1885’ which put the artistic collaboration between these two painters into the spotlight.Among the works exhibited featured a Paul Cézanne work entitled ‘L’Hermitage à Pontoise’, extremely similar to‘Jardin de Maubuisson, l’Hermitage, Pontoise’. “They adoptexactly the same point of view. These paintings reflect the dialogue and the mutual influence between the two artists”, explained David Nordmann and Xavier Dominique. Thework presented by the auction house seemed the perfectillustration of the artistic exchanges between the two impressionist artists.
Paul CEZANNE (1839-1906) L’Hermitage à Pontoise Huile sur toile Localisation : Musée Von der Heydt Museum à Wuppertal, Allemagne.
Painting side by side all while maintaining their own “sensation”
Cézanne and Pissarro met at the beginning of the 1870s at the Académie Suisse, a painting studio situated on the Île de la Cité, in Paris. “A close friendship and working relationship developed very quickly between the two men. Cézanne found in Pissarro the same rejection of traditions and academic teaching which characterises him”, explained the catalogue of the ‘Cézanne et Pissarro 1865-1885’exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay. In 1873, Cézanne joinedPissarro in Pontoise, where the painter had been residing fora year. “In Pontoise and in Auvers-sur-Oise the two painters shared the same patterns, houses and village roads. They used to paint or draw side by side, all while each retained their individuality. Pissarro summarised all of that in a slogan: “each held on to the only thing that counts, his sensation”, continued the curator of the exhibition in the catalogue.
An unheard of collaboration in the history of Impressionism
The collaboration between Cézanne and Pissarro wouldlast more than 20 years. “Cézanne stayed in Pontoise for 10 years. And even went he left the Parisian region to settle down in the South of France, the two artists stayed in contact and continued to work in response to each other“, explained Nicolas Nouvelet. It turns out that suchan intermate relationship between two artists is extremely rare in the history of art and for that matter constitutes “a unique case in the history of impressionism”, highlights thecatalogue of the Musée d’Orsay exhibition.
|
|