Camille Pissarro

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (until 1918)

Sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, November 28, 1924, lot 51

Gerson Collection (acquired at the above sale)

Private Collection, France (sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 1, 1938, lot 33)

Acquired at the above sale by the family of the present owner and thence by descent

 

Ludovic Rodo Pissarro & Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro, Son art - son oeuvre, Paris, 1939, vol. I, no. 1241, illustrated n.p.

Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro, Critical Catalogue of Paintings, Paris, 2005, vol. III, no. 1445, illustrated p. 882

This work is in excellent condition. Original canvas. The work has been recently cleaned. There are artist's pinholes in the four corners. Under UV light, there are small spots of inpainting in the extreme corners that correspond to the pinholes and a small spot at the upper edge near the upper right corner. 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 the first years of the twentieth century, Pissarro took to painting urban landscapes in carefully selected series. The current work derives from one such series, depicting a view of the harbor at Dieppe. Pissarro returned to the town of Dieppe on the Normandy coast in the summer of 1902, where he had already painted several depictions of the church of Saint-Jacques the year before. This time he rented a room on the second floor of the Hôtel du Commerce, which looked out onto the fish market. From his room he could see the port and the inner harbor, and he painted several pictures of these views, of which the present work is a brilliant and sun-drenched example. The weather that summer was splendid, and Pissarro, who was very enthusiastic about his surroundings, encouraged his son Lucien to join him there: "I have a first-rate motif, indeed I have several. It is really a pity that you can't come to Dieppe this year, but perhaps you will be able to escape for a little while" (John Rewald, ed., Camille Pissarro, Letters to his son Lucien, New York, 1943, p. 349).

After passing through several prominent French collections, L'Avant-port de Dieppe, après-midi, temps lumineux was sold in an auction at Hôtel Drouot in 1938 and has been in the same family since that sale.

This work has been requested for the forthcoming exhibition Pissarro and the Harbours: Rouen, Dieppe and Le Havre at the Musée d'Art Moderne André-Malraux in Le Havre scheduled to take place from April 27 to September 29, 2013.