Berthe Morisot

Bust length

Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1896
Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Paris, 1922
Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris, 1931
Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1952
Ernest Rouart, Paris
Denis Rouart, Neuilly-sur-Seine
Marie-Louise Jeanneret, Geneva
Sale: Christie's, London, 27th June 1978, lot 35
Purchased at the above sale by the late owner

Paris, Durand-Ruel, Madame Eugène Manet, Exposition de son œuvre, 1896, no. 25
Paris, Salon d'Automne, Berthe Morisot, 1907, no. 11
Paris, Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Exposition Rétrospective Berthe Morisot, 1922, no. 6
London, M. Knoedler & Co. Inc., Berthe Morisot, Madame Eugéne Manet, 1936 no. 35
New York, Knoedler Galleries, Berthe Morisot, 1936 no. 18
Paris, Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Berthe Morisot, 1937, no. 80
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Berthe Morisot, 1941, no. 80
Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, Peintres de Portraits, 1952
Tokyo, Mitsukoshi (and travelling), Les Femmes Impressionnistes, 1996, no. 16, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Marie Louise Bataille & Georges Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot, Catalogue des Peintures, Pastels et Aquarelles, Paris, 1961, no. 247, illustrated p. 39
Susanna de Vries-Evans, The Lost Impressionists: Masterpieces from Private Collections, Niwot, 1992, illustrated in colour p. 67
Alain Clairet, Delphine Montalant and Yves Rouart, Berthe Morisot, Catalogue Raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Paris, 1997, no. 251, illustrated p. 238

The canvas is not lined. UV inspection confirms there are a three minor spots of retouching to the sitter's shoulder and a further small area to the lower left arm near the flower. In addition there is a tiny area of retouching to the upper left corner near the frame rebate. There is a fine stretcher bar mark running across the centre of the painting. There is craquelure mainly confined to the sitter's head. Overall the work is in good original condition. Overall the colour is farily accurate although the pinks are brighter in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Alice Gamby en Buste is a classic example of Berthe Morisot’s favoured genre of female portraiture. The sitter, with typically soft features and floating white dress is set against a backdrop consisting of the thick, green palm fronds that the artist regularly employed to provide a flat, colourful and painterly surface without superfluous detailing. Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Morisot enjoyed a fruitful artistic relationship, and when she visited his studio in January of 1886 she was strongly influenced by his graphic technique, thereafter focussing far more on draughtsmanship. Indeed there are various preparatory sketches of this work to evidence this turn towards a less spontaneous Impressionist technique. In 1890, the year this portrait was painted, Morisot was renting a house in Mézy just outside Paris for the purposes of restoring her husband’s health. Renoir was a regular visitor and must have been equally struck by the beauty of Morisot’s brother Tibruce’s step-daughter, Alice Gamby, for he also used her as a model (see Alice Gamby au Jardin, 1891, Private Collection).

 

As such, this portrait is a telling insight into the communal work and thought of the Impressionists, with whom Morisot so closely identified: ‘I am beginning to enter the confidence of my brethren, the Impressionists …’ (from a letter to her sister Edma, 1884, Berthe Morisot 1841-1895 (exhibition catalogue), Lille, 2002, p.42). Morisot is hailed as one of the few female figures to have been fully integrated into the field of Impressionist art, with her works having been regularly included in their exhibitions of the 1870s and 1880s. This was closely felt by Morisot, as evidenced by a notebook of his contemporaneous to this work: 'The truth is that our value lies in feeling, in intention, in our vision that is subtler than that of men, and we can accomplish a great deal provided that affectation, pedantry, and sentimentalism do not spoil everything.' (Charles F. Stuckey & William P. Scott, Berthe Morisot, Impressionist, New York, 1987, p. 145). Indeed when an auction of works by Renoir, Pissarro, Monet and Sisley was held at the Hôtel Drouot in 1875, Morisot’s pieces fetched marginally higher prices.