Émile Bernard

Gabriel-Albert Aurier, Paris (acquired directly from the artist before 1892)
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above and sold: Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Paris, December 10, 2016, lot 21)
Acquired at the above sale 

Mannheim, Stadtische Kunsthalle & Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Émile Bernard, a Pioneer of Modern Art, 1990, no. 38

Jean-Jacques Luthi, Émile Bernard, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 1982, no. 62, illustrated p. 14
Jean-Jacques Luthi & Armand Israël, Émile Bernard, Sa vie, son oeuvre, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 2014, no. 78, illustrated p. 149

The canvas has been relined. When examined under UV light there is no apparent over-painting or restoration to the painting surface. A thicker varnish may obscure older restoration. There appears to be an old repair to the lower left corner of the canvas where there is some undulation to the pigment and some build up of impasto. There is paint thinning and rubbing along the lower edge and to the lower left corner. There is surface dirt, the work would benefit from a light clean. The painting is in overall 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.

From 1886 to 1887, when the present work was painted, the artist was at the forefront of a decorative, anti-naturalistic style called Cloisonnism, characterized by flattened areas of pure color, circumscribed by strong black outlines, with its visual suggestion of the enameled metalwork known as cloisonné. Vincent van Gogh, a close friend by the mid-1880s, admired Bernard's Cloisonnist portraits and the two artists began a lively correspondence. Through his friendship with van Gogh, Bernard was exposed to Japanese prints, which were similarly championed by both artists and their contemporaries for their flattened, frieze-like bands of color as well as their strong black outlines.

Bernard’s fascination with depicting scenes of modern, popular activities was shared with fellow artists Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Louis Anquetin, and he focused almost exclusively on this theme between 1884 and 1889. As art historian and curator Mary Anne Stevens notes, “These years saw his search for a new visual vocabulary capable of dissociating art from its traditional direct linked with external nature, such as explorations of the worlds of cafés, brothels and music halls may have presented Bernard with a perfect conjunction of non-natural subjects and a cruder, increasingly non-naturalistic technique derived in large measure from Vincent van Gogh and from the early work of Cézanne” (Mary Anne Stevens, Emile Bernard 1868-1941: A Pioneer of Modern Art, Amsterdam, 1990, p. 172).

The present work was first owned by critic Albert Aurier, an avid collector of Symbolist art and close friend of Bernard and van Gogh and remained in the family's collection for more than 100 years.