EDOUARD VUILLARD | La Grand-mère à l'évier

Estate of the Artist
Sam Salz, New York
William & Edith Mayer Goetz, Los Angeles (a gift from the above by 1951; sale: Christie's, New York, 14th November 1988, lot 13)
Galerie Bellier, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2007

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, The Collection of Mr & Mrs William Goetz, 1959, no. 66, illustrated in the catalogue (titled My Grandmother and dated 1892)
Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts; Washington D.C., The Phillips Collection & New York, The Brooklyn Museum, The Intimate Interiors of Edouard Vuillard, 1989-90 n.n.
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts; Barcelona, Fundación Caixa de Pensiones & Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Vuillard, 1990-91, no. 27, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (titled La Femme à la soupière and dated circa 1890-91)
Berlin, Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Edouard Vuillard. Intérieurs et Paysages de Paris, 1992, no. 2, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (titled Grand-mère à la soupière and with incorrect medium)
Gifu, Japan, The Museum of Fine Arts, Tournant de la peinture, 1993, no. 178, illustrated in the catalogue
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Die Nabis, Propheten der Moderne, 1993, no. 142, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Paris, Grand Palais, Nabis 1888-1900, 1993, no. 142, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Florence, Palazzo Corsini, Il Tempo dei Nabis, 1998, no. 6, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Montreal, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Le Temps dei Nabis, 1998, no. 157, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Saint-Tropez, Musée de l'Annonciade & Lausanne, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Edouard Vuillard. La porte entrebâillée, 2000-01, no. 6, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (titled La Grand-mère à la soupière)
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Montreal, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais & London, Royal Academy of Arts, Edouard Vuillard, 2003-04, no. 4, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Alfred M. Frankfurter, 'The Goetz Collection', in Art News 50, no. 5, September 1951, illustrated p. 57
Post-Impressionism. From Van Gogh to Gauguin (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1956, illustrated pp. 418-19
Ann Dumas & Guy Cogeval (ed.), Vuillard, Paris, 1990, no. 27, illustrated in colour p. 56
Guy Congeval, Vuillard. Le Temps détourné, Paris, 1993, illustrated in colour p. 22
Natasha Staller, 'Babel. Hermetic Languages, Universal Languages, and Anti-Languages in Fin de Siècle Parisian Culture', in Art Bulletin 76, no. 2, June 1994, illustrated fig. 16
Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard: The Inexhaustible Glance, Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, Paris, 2003, vol. I, no. II-3, illustrated in colour p. 75

Please note that there is a professional condition report for this work, please contact mariella.salazar@sothebys.com to request a copy.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

At the time the present work was painted, Vuillard shared a studio with Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis at 28 rue Pigalle in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The Pointillist technique of this painting draws upon the work of Signac and Seurat and shows a clear separation in style from his Nabis peers. This painting is of Vuillard’s maternal grandmother, of whom he was exceptionally fond. He referred to her as ‘bonne-maman’. A similar, Pointillist-influenced portrait of Vuillard’s grandmother, dated 1894, is in the collection of the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The sincerity and complexity of La grand mère a l’évier is a prime example of Vuillard’s portraiture during this early stage of his career.