- 210
Édouard Vuillard
Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed
Description
- Edouard Vuillard
- La Comtesse Lanskoy
- Signed E. Vuillard (lower right)
- Oil on canvas
- 34 1/2 by 31 5/8 in.
- 87.7 by 80.5 cm
Provenance
Comtesse Lanskoy, Paris
Gabriel Gérin, Valence
Private Collection, Paris (by descent from the above)
Private Collection (acquired from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 19, 2006, lot 54)
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman
Gabriel Gérin, Valence
Private Collection, Paris (by descent from the above)
Private Collection (acquired from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 19, 2006, lot 54)
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman
Exhibited
Paris, Petit Palais, Les Maîtres de l'art indépendant, 1895-1937, 1937, no. 19
Paris, Galerie Bellier & New York, Berry Hill Galleries, Édouard Vuillard, Le Silence me garde, 2002-03, no. 32
Paris, Galerie Bellier & New York, Berry Hill Galleries, Édouard Vuillard, Le Silence me garde, 2002-03, no. 32
Literature
Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, Post-Impressionist Master, New York, 2002, illustrated in color p. 106
Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, vol. III, Paris, 2003, no. XII-121, illustrated in color p. 1516
Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, vol. III, Paris, 2003, no. XII-121, illustrated in color p. 1516
Condition
This work is in good condition. The canvas is not lined. Some craqueleure visible in the thickest areas of impasto, notably to the crimson to the left of the tablecloth at center right. Under UV light some retouching to address craqueleure, notably in the floor beneath the sitter's feet at lower center and lower left; a few other spots of retouching to the right of the sitter's right sleeve and around her right knee. Otherwise fine.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
"Vuillard is not an anecdotal painter. His work is the mirror of a civilization; it is also an outstanding document, as persuasive as the novels of Proust."
Romain Coolus in L'Art Vivant, May 1938
Coolus' reference to the French author Marcel Proust is appropriate to the present work, since La Comtesse Lanskoy belongs to a group of portraits of members of high society, where the sitter's status is unmistakably suggested by the milieu in which he or she is depicted. La Comtesse Lanskoy was executed during the last decade of Vuillard's life, when he was a well-established and respected artist. According to Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval's Catalogue Raisonné: "Olga Lanskoy was a golf champion who was married to the Russian-born artist André Lanskoy. Vuillard portrays her here in Marcel Kapferer's apartment at 64 avenue Henri-Martin, for the good reason that she was Kapferer's mistress and had even managed to become a close friend of his youngest daughter, Yvette (one of the three little girls depicted in the Kapferer Frieze). On the wall behind her, we can just make out a Dufy Baigneur; at the sitter's feet is what appears to be an Eileen Grey rug. This portrait, which is in the same 'Art Deco' vein as that of Jane Renouardt and seems to have been preceded by only a handful of preparatory drawings, was painted largely from memory: 'Lanskoy sitting on my own, she [being] ill.' Vuillard displays his psychological unstable pose; indeed, the elegant young woman looks somewhat ill-at-ease in the living-room of her wealthy protector" (Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, op. cit., p. 1516).
As the celebrated art critic Waldemar George suggested: "The art of Vuillard is essential in its subtle task to release the psychic correspondences and morals which attach the individual to his medium; the atmosphere then assumes an infinitely greater importance than photographic resemblance and, yet, few painters will leave us more evocative images of certain contemporaries whom we knew intimately. Having not stuck to a literal resemblance, Vuillard gave us models better than any physical description; he gave them to us in their everyday lives, and where we expected to see the resemblance, we were moved to identify them truly" (Waldemar George, "Vuillard et l'age heureux" in l'Art Vivant, May 1938).
Romain Coolus in L'Art Vivant, May 1938
Coolus' reference to the French author Marcel Proust is appropriate to the present work, since La Comtesse Lanskoy belongs to a group of portraits of members of high society, where the sitter's status is unmistakably suggested by the milieu in which he or she is depicted. La Comtesse Lanskoy was executed during the last decade of Vuillard's life, when he was a well-established and respected artist. According to Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval's Catalogue Raisonné: "Olga Lanskoy was a golf champion who was married to the Russian-born artist André Lanskoy. Vuillard portrays her here in Marcel Kapferer's apartment at 64 avenue Henri-Martin, for the good reason that she was Kapferer's mistress and had even managed to become a close friend of his youngest daughter, Yvette (one of the three little girls depicted in the Kapferer Frieze). On the wall behind her, we can just make out a Dufy Baigneur; at the sitter's feet is what appears to be an Eileen Grey rug. This portrait, which is in the same 'Art Deco' vein as that of Jane Renouardt and seems to have been preceded by only a handful of preparatory drawings, was painted largely from memory: 'Lanskoy sitting on my own, she [being] ill.' Vuillard displays his psychological unstable pose; indeed, the elegant young woman looks somewhat ill-at-ease in the living-room of her wealthy protector" (Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, op. cit., p. 1516).
As the celebrated art critic Waldemar George suggested: "The art of Vuillard is essential in its subtle task to release the psychic correspondences and morals which attach the individual to his medium; the atmosphere then assumes an infinitely greater importance than photographic resemblance and, yet, few painters will leave us more evocative images of certain contemporaries whom we knew intimately. Having not stuck to a literal resemblance, Vuillard gave us models better than any physical description; he gave them to us in their everyday lives, and where we expected to see the resemblance, we were moved to identify them truly" (Waldemar George, "Vuillard et l'age heureux" in l'Art Vivant, May 1938).