Eugène Boudin

M. Sonnerville, Bordeaux (acquired directly from the artist)
William Hallsborough Ltd., London
Lock Galleries, New York (acquired by 1967)
Armand Hammer Foundation, Los Angeles (acquired by 1968)
Private Collection, California
Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco
Acquired from the above in 2012

New York, Hammer Galleries, 40th Anniversary Loan Exhibition 1928-1968, 1968, n.n., illustrated in color in the catalogue
Memphis, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery; Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution; Kansas City, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art; New Orleans, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art; Columbus, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts; Little Rock, Arkansas Art Center; San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Art Center; San Diego, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego; Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; London, Royal Academy of Arts; Dublin, The National Gallery of Ireland; Leningrad, The Hermitage Museum; Moscow, The Pushkin Museum; Kiev, State Museum of Fine Art of the Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic; Minsk, State Fine Art Museum; Riga, State Museum of Foreign Fine Arts; Odessa, Fine Arts Museum; Caracas, Fine Arts Museum; Lima, Italian Art Museum; Tokyo, Ikebukuro-Seibu Museum; Kyoto, Japan; Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefectural Culture Center Museum; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum; Nashville, Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood; Mexico City, Palace of Fine Arts; Paris, Jacquemart-André Museum & traveling, The Armand Hammer Collection: Five Centuries of Masterpieces, 1969-87

Art News, New York, 1967, illustrated p. 53
François Daulte, "Hammer en dix chefs d'oeuvre" in Connaissance des arts, 1970, illustrated pp. 82-83
Mahonri Sharp Young, "The Hammer Collection: Paintings" in Apollo, vol. 95, 1972, illustrated p. 444
Robert Schmit, Eugène Boudin, 1824-1898, vol. II, Paris, 1973, no. 234, illustrated p. 392

The panel is sound. There is some very minor frame abrasion to the extreme edges. Under UV light: scattered strokes of inpainting in the sky at the upper left. Otherwise, fine. This 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.
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Trouville, Scène de plage is a beautiful example of Boudin’s most celebrated subject, the beach at Trouville. As Jean Selz notes, “What fascinated Boudin at Trouville and Deauville was not so much the sea and ships but the groups of people sitting on the sand or strolling along the beach: fine ladies in crinolines twirling their parasols, pompous gentlemen in top hats, children and little dogs playing on the sand. In the harmony of the colors of the elegant clothes he found a contrast to the delicacy of the skies” (Jean Selz, Eugène Boudin, New York, 1982, p. 57).

By the second half of the nineteenth century, Trouville had become a fashionable summer retreat for the French aristocracy, and the people-watching opportunities proved to be of great artistic inspiration to Boudin during his regular summers there throughout the 1860s and 1870s. Captivated by the lively groupings of these elegant leisure classes, he rendered his subjects in quick, impressionistic brushstrokes highlighted by bright blue and red accents. Boudin's interest in capturing the fleeting effects of sunlight on sumptuous fabrics and the effect of a windy day on the billowing dresses and tents was to have a profound influence on many Impressionist painters.

In Trouville, Scène de plage, Boudin demonstrates his exceptional understanding of color and his sensitivity to the confluence of staccato brushstrokes to dually evoke the stillness of leisure and the motion of a blustery beach day. As Vivien Hamilton writes, “Although Boudin preferred painting groups of people to painting individuals, he succeeded in capturing the characteristic gestures, movements and costumes of the individual figures with astonishing accuracy. The artistic challenge presented by the subject was not only the representation of movement, color and light but also the successful incorporation of the human figure into the landscape. At their best, the beach scenes vibrate with subtle nuances of light, color, shade and movement, tiny and hasty specks of pure color simultaneously dramatizing the surface and bringing the whole into harmony” (Vivien Hamilton, Boudin at Trouville, London, 1992, p. 63).