Eva Gonzalès

Moniard (1872)

Henri Guérard (the artist’s husband, circa May 24, 1897)

Jeanne Guérard-Gonzalès, Paris (the artist’s sister, 1897)

Jean-Raymond Guérard, Paris (the artist’s son, circa 1924)

André Watteau, Paris

Private Collection, Paris

Sold: Sotheby’s, New York, November 11, 1999, lot 104

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Palais des Champs-Elysées, Salon, 1872, no. 723

Paris, Salons de la Vie Moderne, Eva Gonzalès, 1885, no. 17         

Paris, Grand Palais, Exposition Universelle Centennale de l’art français 1800-1889, 1900, no. 330

Vienna, Die Kunst der Frau, 1910, no. 94 (titled Die Ruhende)

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Eva Gonzalès, 1914, no. 2

Paris, Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Eva Gonzalès, 1932, no. 2

Paris, Alfred Daber, Eva Gonzalès, 1950, no. 2

Monaco, Sporting de Monaco, Eva Gonzalès, 1952, no. 2

Paris, Galerie Daber, Eva Gonzalès, 1959, no. 3

Bilbao, El museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Edad Media y Moderna, Edad Contemporanea I y Edad Contemporanea II

Jules Castagnary, “Le Salon de 1872,” Le Siècle, June 1, 1872, discussed p. 2

Emile Zola, “Lettres Parisiennes,” La Cloche, May 12, 1872, discussed p. 2

Jules Clarétie, Peintres et sculpteurs contemporains, Paris, 1874, discussed p. 263

Philippe Burty, “Eva Gonzalès,” La République Française, January 24, 1985, discussed p. 3

Paul Ferronays, “L’exposition d’Eva Gonzalès,” La Vie Moderne, January 24, 1885, discussed p. 62

Firmin Javel, “Nos illustrations,” L’Art Français, January 3, 1891, dicussed p. 1

Jules-Antoine Castagnary, Salons, vol. II, Paris, 1892, discussed pp. 34-35

Robert Henard, “Les expositions,” La Renaissance, April 4, 1914, discussed p. 25

Paul Bayle, “L'exposition Eva Gonzalès,” La vie féminine, April 7, 1914, illustrated p. 2

Louis Hautecoeur, “Exposition Eva Gonzalès,” La chronique des arts et de la curiosité, April 11, 1914, discussed p. 115

L. Dimier, “Chronique des arts,” L'Action Française, April 12, 1914, illustrated p. 4

François Monod, “L'Impressionnisme féminin,” Art et Décoration, May 1914, discussed p. 2

Paule Bayle, “Eva Gonzalès,” La Renaissance, June 1932, discussed p. 114

Fabien Solar, “Expositions, Rétrospective Eva Gonzalès à la galerie

Marcel Bernheim,” Les échos d'art, August 1932, discussed p. IV

Claude Roger-Marx, “Eva Gonzalès,” Arts, Paris, July 1950, p. 8

Claude Roger-Marx, Eva Gonzalès, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1950, discussed pp. 13-14, 16; illustrated pl. IV

Patrick Brady, 'L'oeuvre' de Emile Zola, Geneva, 1958, p. 101
Dictionnaire universel de la peinture, vol. 3, Paris, 1975, p. 137

Sophie Monneret, L'impressionnisme et son époque, vol. I, Paris, 1978, illustrated p. 252

Marie-Caroline Sainsaulieu and Jacques de Mons, Eva Gonzalès, 1849-1883, Etude critique et catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1990, no. 39, illustrated p. 113

Souren Melikian, "A Bizarre Week of Impressionism," International Herald Tribune, New York, November 13-14, 1999, discussed

Eva Gonzalès first received critical attention at the Paris Salon of 1870, when she exhibited three pictures and was herself the subject of a fourth: Portrait d’Eva Gonzalès by Edouard Manet (National Gallery, London).  The sitter for this delicately painted portrait is Jeanne Gonzalès, the artist’s younger sister and favorite model, who was also a painter.  When L’Indolence was first exhibited in the Salon of 1872, it was praised by the writer and critic Emile Zola: “I would like to point out an adorable painting depicting a young child, a naive figure dressed in pink with a muslin scarf chastely knotted around her neck.  It is simply a sketch of freshness, of whiteness; it is a virgin fallen from a stained-glass window and painted by a naturalist artist of our times” (published in ‘Lettres Parisiennes’, La Cloche, May 12, 1872, p. 2, translated from the French).

The painting was also greatly admired by the critic Jules Clarétie: “Mlle Eva Gonzalès…has exhibited a portrait of a young girl to which she has given this title: L’Indolence.  It is a seated figure, a young girl dressed in a delicate pink robe, with a mesh scarf around her waist…This charming Indolence is the work of an artist of rare talent, who takes the brush after having handled pastel like Rosalba” (Jules Clarétie, Peintres et Sculpteurs Contemporains, Paris, 1874, p. 263, translated from the French).