Henri le Sidaner

Galerie Georges Petit, Paris
Mme. Duroyon, Cambrai
Galerie Lorenceau, Paris
Hammer Galleries, New York
Private Collection

Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner, Le Sidaner, L’Oeuvre Peint et Gravé, Paris, 1989, no. 476, illustrated p. 186

Le Sidaner developed his distinctive idiom during the 1890's, under the influence of Symbolism.  The poignant fin-de-siècle mood of Maeterlinck and Verhaeren, of Lévy-Dhurmer and Khnopff set the tone of his oeuvre.  On a formal level, he found a suitably harmonious, overall treatment for his compostitions in Neo-Impressionism.

Critics have frequently described Le Sidaner's work in terms of musicality and silence.  Always in a 'minor key;' its subtle harmonies are seen to evoke a wistful mood that is exacerbated as Paul Signac notes, by the absence of figures: "His oeuvre displays a taste for tender, soft and silent atmospheres.  Gradually, he even went so far as to eliminate all human presence from his pictures, as if he feared that the slightest human form might disturb their muffled silence" (quoted in Yann Farinaux Le Sidaner, Le Sidaner, op. cit., p 31).  Instead the artist focused on the architectural and domestic environments as well as their accoutrements man creates for himself.  "He considered that the silent harmony of things is enough to evoke the presence of those who live among them.  Indeed, such presences are felt throughout his works.  Deserted they may be but never empty" (Camille Mauclair, Henri Le Sidaner, Paris, 1928, p.12).

The home and gardens Le Sidaner created at Gerberoy and Versailles provided his most enduring themes.  The present sun-drenched work is one of his crowning achievements of the numerous variations executed during the 1920's.  In the present work, the tranquil garden and terrace, man's imprint on nature, is overwhelmed by nature itself.  Le Sidaner has liberally applied multi-colored dabs of paint to capture the late summer foliage and its density.  As Maurice Hamberger points out, "Le Sidaner has sensed that beauty, like happiness, consists above all in inner harmony, calm and simplicity" (Le Soir, 1930).