HENRI MARTIN | Beauté

M. P. Riff, Paris
M. Périnet, Paris
The Greenwich Gallery, Connecticut
Private Collection, California (acquired from the above in 2005; sale: Christie's, New York, 7 May 2008, lot 331)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Salon des Artistes Français, 1900, no. 903
Beverly Hills, Anderson Galleries & New York, Hammer Galleries, Eden Close at Hand: The Paintings of Henri Martin 1860-1943, 2005, no. 14, illustrated in colour in the catalogue 

Léonce Bénédite, 'La Lyre et les muses par Henri Martin' in Art et Décoration, January-June 1900, illustrated pp. 7-8
Achille Ségard, Peintres d'aujourd'hui. Les Décorateurs, Paris, 1914, illustrated pp. 34-35

The canvas is not lined. Examination under UV light reveals several areas of retouching, the largest of which is an L-shaped area to the lower right of the composition, possibly caused by a tear to the canvas and strengthened by a patch which is visible on the verso. There is a further horizontal line of intermittent retouching running parallel to the upper edge, which has also been secured with a patch to the verso. There are further small flecks of retouching to the lower edge, notably around the signature of the artist, and to the proper left arm of the sitter. There is some minor shrinkage and small areas of stable craquelure in places. This work is in overall fairly 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. 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."

Depicting a half-clothed woman in an attitude of sensual abandon and surrounded by cascades of lilies, Beauté is a highly accomplished example of Henri Martin’s Symbolist style. Painted in 1900, it forms part of a series of paintings in which the artist explored the theme of the Muse as creative inspiration. Although Martin had found critical success early on in his career – being awarded the coveted hors concors status by the Salon in 1883, which entitled him to submit work to the annual exhibition without the prior approval of the jury – his painting underwent a change in stylistic direction during the 1890s and early 1900s, becoming more experimental. He became increasingly fascinated by the effects of light, an interest explored to superb effect within the present work in which the woman’s torso appears to be bathed in the warm glow of candlelight against a twilight sky. Making reference to the present work, Petra ten-Doesschate Chu notes that: ‘Perhaps Martin was inspired[…] by Baudelaire’s famous poem, La Beauté, which pictures beauty as a woman, whose breast “is made to inspire in the poet a love as eternal and silent as matter” and which attributes to beauty “a heart of snow”’ (quoted in Eden Close at Hand, The Paintings of Henri Martin 1860-1943 (exhibition catalogue), Anderson Galleries, New York, 2005, p. 66). The importance Martin attached to this work is attested to by the fact that he chose to exhibit it at the prestigious Paris Salon in 1900. In fact, the artist was so enamoured by this particular subject that he also painted another version (currently housed in the collection of the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse) which mirrors the present work.