Édouard Vuillard

Estate of the artist
Galerie Maratier, Paris (acquired by 1943)
Sale: Hôtel Rameau, Versailles, March 3, 1963, lot 127
Galerie Urban, Paris
Sale: Christie's, London, December 6, 1963, lot 120
Brook Street Gallery, London
Weintraub Gallery, New York
William Kennedy, New York
Wendell Cherry, Louisville
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 20, 1988, lot 66
Galerie Matignon, Paris
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 26, 1993, lot 20
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Maratier, Quelques toiles sur l'élegance féminine dans la peinture, 1943, no. 73
Munich, Kunstverein, Die Moderne Arts Galerie seigt Bonnard, Roussel, Vuillard, 1959, no. 47, illustrated in the catalogue

The Burlington Magazine, vol. 105, no. 728, November 1963, illustrated p. 11
Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, vol. II, Paris, 2003, no. IX-231, illustrated in color p. 1167

Executed on medium brown paper which has been laid down on canvas. There is some uniform time fading to the paper and pigments commensurate with age. There is a pin-head sized hole to the paper in the upper left quadrant near the top left edge. There is a minor crease to the paper (approx. 2.5 in. long) to the center of the left edges, approximately 2 in. from the left edge. There is a minor loss to the pink pigment of the background in the lower right quadrant. There is a small area with several nail-head sized losses to the center of the upper edge. There are minor instances of studio surface dirt scattered around the periphery. The pigments are very fresh and strong. Overall, the work is in good condition.
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.

The present work depicts the cousin of Lucy Hessel, Marcelle Aron. Lucy was the wife of the artist's notoriously philandering Bernheim-Jeune dealer Jos Hessel, who later became Vuillard's own mistress. Marcelle Aron shocked Parisian society by leaving her husband Sam Aron for the playwright Tristan Bernard. The present work is a direct view into this multi-faceted love triangle and serves as a reminder of the significant tie between the artist and the upper-class Jewish community in Paris. In this redolent portrayal we are acutely aware of the subject's longing and anxiety. In the midst of a beautifully rendered interior filled with Vuillard's characteristic patterns, the present work is exemplary of the way in which "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, n.p.).