William Bouguereau

Arthur Tooth & Sons, London (acquired directly from the artist, October 23, 1899 and received in Paris by June 9, 1899)
Jul. Cehraur, New York
Knoedler, New York (December 1899)
Fred Grinnelt, New Bedford, Massachusetts (April 1901)
Louis Kuehn, Milwaukee (probably acquired by circa 1920s)
George Kuehn and Phyllis Kuehn née Christensen, Milwaukee (by descent from the above, his father, in 1960)
Inez Christensen Davis, Milwaukee (by descent from the above, her sister, in 1992)
Thence by descent to the present owner

"William Bouguereau," Médaillons Bordelais, n.d., series 3, no. 65, n.p. (with illustrations by Louis Blayot)
 Mark Steven Walker,"William-Adolphe Bouguereau, A Summary Catalogue of the Paintings," William-Adolphe Bouguereau, L'Art Pompier, exh. cat., Borghi & Co., New York, 1991, p. 75
Damien Bartoli with Frederick C. Ross, William Bouguereau, Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, New York, 2010, p. 329, no. 1899/05, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This canvas has been lined and the cracking is slightly raised. A new lining will eliminate the raised cracking, although the paint layer is stable in its current condition. The paint layer is also cleaned and varnished. No retouches are visible under ultraviolet light. Although there is very slight weakness to the paint layer over the figure's left eye, this is original and the paint layer seems to be in very good condition. There is a very slight possibility that there is old retouching in the background on the left.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In February 1899, Bouguereau and his wife travelled with their son Paul to Menton, a small town on the French Riviera.  The journey was on the advice of Paul's doctors, who hoped the sea air would improve his recently diagnosed tuberculosis. Paul (then 30) left behind his law practice, and Bouguereau put his painting aside as they settled into the elegant Hôtel des Îles Britanniques (Damien Bartoli with Frederick Ross, William Bouguereau, His Life and Work, New York, 2010, p. 394).  Though initially planned to last a month, the trip was extended week by week, and Bouguereau grew anxious to paint, writing to a friend "I finally found a room on the north side of the hotel and a few little models, and set to work" (as quoted from a letter dated March 1, 1899 in Bartoli, p. 394). The artist went on to complete a series of six compositions including the first, Mimosa, and le Citron (sold in these rooms, November 04, 2011, lot 47, illustrated), which feature a young model holding one of the region's vibrant botanicals. In the present work, the mimosa's distinctive fern-like stalk is lightly grasped in the girl's fingers, suggesting her mindfulness of the delicate blossoms, their sunny, yellow color complimented by the glinting gold of her small hoop earrings and blond hair. The mimosa plant was brought to Europe from the southern hemisphere, and continued to bloom in January and February, its cheerful color and lovely scent a welcome respite from winter and a promise of the joys of spring; in the present work it is a poignant symbol for the artist tending to his ailing son.

Mimosa was acquired by Bouguereau's London dealer Arthur Tooth & Sons in October 1899 and entered an American collection soon after.  In the decades following, Mimosa was acquired by Milwaukee's Louis Kuehn (1867-1948), whose biography is emblematic of the American "rags-to-riches" story. Born in Alsace-Lorraine, Kuehn immigrated to the United States in 1888, and after early work in an Ohio pottery shop and bakery, became a traveling salesman for the sheet metal and steel industry. In 1902 Kuehn founded the Milwaukee Corrugating Company, reorganized in 1927 as the Milcor Steel Company, and eventually a subsidiary of Inland Steel, one of the largest corporations of its kind in the country.  This was only one of Kuehn's professional achievements focused on Milwaukee's economic development.  As a biographer explained, Kuehn's "progressive spirit"  was "manifest in all that he undertook... the word 'fail' [had] no part in his vocabulary... he forged his way steadily forward until he reached his goal of honorable and deserved success" ("Wisconsin," Wisconsin Biography, Chicago, 1946, p. 629).  This same spirit is evidenced in Kuehn's decision to preserve his Milwaukee home, the Field Mansion, when scheduled for demolition due to the expansion of the city's Juneau Park in 1926.  An architectural landmark, the three-story Bedford stone house, a mix of French Château, English Tudor, and Romanesque design, was built in 1890 for real estate investor Samuel A. Field, and his Chicago architects designed the interiors to accommodate his large art collection. Kuehn acquired the mansion in 1920 (the original art collection dispersed) and, during five months in 1928, the 120,000 cubic foot structure was moved piece-by-piece over three miles from its original location to 3432 N. Lake Drive.  An intricate plan assigned a serial number to each stone so that it could be rebuilt (reports claimed only a single stone was broken) while all original woodwork was retained and reassembled by the original craftsmen from the Matthews Brothers Company (H. Russell Zimmerman, Magnificent Milwaukee, Architectural Treasures 1850-1920, Milwaukee, 1987, pp. 103-9).  

While it is uncertain exactly when Kuehn purchased Mimosa, it was likely one of the artworks, along with those by Benjamin Constant, Eugen von Blaas, and Gustave Jean Jacquet, that moved along with the mansion (though they had an extensive furniture collection, Kuehn and his wife Viarda continued to seek out paintings soon after their purchase of the home).  As the interior paneling was so faithfully rebuilt, Kuehn could rehang his art treasures exactly where they were originally placed.  Many of the paintings, including another work by Bouguereau then known as St. John the Baptist and Christ Child (its exact identity yet to be determined), along with tapestries, bronzes, sculpture and furniture were donated to the Milwaukee Art Center in 1963 by the Kuehns' son George and their daughter Marie K. Ingersoll.  Yet Mimosa was held by the family and hung in the Milwaukee home shared by George and his wife Phyllis (née Christensen).  Upon Phyllis' death in 1992 it was passed to her sister, Inez Christensen Davis (1913-2011), a Wisconsin native and librarian who is credited for expanding the available libraries for servicemen during World War II.  Enjoyed by the Kuehns and their larger family for generations, Mimosa's location has been unrecorded for over a century.