Paul Cézanne

Ambroise Vollard, Paris

Paul Cassirer, Amsterdam

Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zürich (acquired from the above in 1938)

Robert von Hirsch, Basel (acquired from the above in 1951 and sold: Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., London, June 26-27, 1978, lot 837)

Acquired at the above sale 

London, Paul Cassirer, Paul Cézanne Watercolors, 1939, no. 20

John Rewald, Paul Cézanne, The Watercolors, Boston, 1983, no. 258, illustrated n.n.

Very good condition. The paper is time stained and there are mild adhesive stains on all four corners of verso from a former hinge which was removed. There is a repair to a very tiny tear on the extreme right edge. The medium is well preserved and colors are fresh.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Executed circa 1885-1890, this skillfully-rendered composition exemplifies the significant artistic developments Cézanne made during the 1880s. Emerging from the influence of his friend Camille Pissarro and their time spent in Pontoise and Auvers, Cézanne’s style gradually evolved from the legacy of the French Impressionists before him to a mature style grounded in his adoration of his birthplace, Provence. Dating from this mature period, the present work demonstrates Cézanne’s delight in depicting the scenery of his native Provence and the constant source of inspiration it provided. In his catalogue raisonné on the artist's watercolors, John Rewald titled this work Cabane provençale, but recent scholarship has called this point into question.  While the exact location of this composition is unknown, Denis Coutagne suggests the rounded building with a tiled circular roof is likely the apse of a Provençale chapel rather than a hunting cabin.

 

As Philip Conisbee notes in the exhibition catalogue for Cézanne in Provence, “Provence was Cézanne’s country: he was at home there as nowhere else.  His sense of being grounded in so particular and so familiar a place, resonant with memory and emotion, caused him to concentrate much of his extraordinary pictorial intelligence there and to create from that landscape some of the most remarkable and original images in late nineteenth and early twentieth century art.  We know Cézanne’s Provence principally through his many representations of it; he was single-minded in his devotion to painting.  Reference to Provence in his surviving correspondence are few, but heavily charged” (Philip Conisbee, Cézanne in Provence, 2006, National Gallery of Art, Washington, p. 1).

Between 1883 and 1887, Cézanne resided predominantly in the south of France.  In the fall of 1882, he retired to his family manor and country home Le Jas de Bouffan where he lived in almost complete isolation.  Embedded deep within the Provençale countryside with occasional excursions to the Île-de-France and L’Estaque, Cézanne focused primarily on the landscapes of his lush environment. The compositional arrangement in the present landscape is rendered with a delicate earthy palette enhanced by the use of small patches of subtle blues, stunning ochers and bright greens.  Executed in these patches of brilliant contrasting hues, Cabane provençale is a testament to Cézanne’s virtuosity in this medium and his remarkably modern vision. By using minimal pictorial means with patches of color Cézanne achieved a sense of volume and space which make his watercolors a unique achievement in modern art.