ÉDOUARD VUILLARD | Vase d'anémones

Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Juliette Bendix, Paris
Jacques Heft, Paris & New York
Mrs. Lucienne Newton, New York (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, March 10, 1971, lot 51)
Hallsborough Gallery, London (acquired at the above sale)
Galerie Schmit, Paris (acquired circa 1981)
French & Company, New York
Acquired from the above on December 17, 1982

Paris, Théâtre Pigalle, Exposition de l'art vivant, 1930, no. 106
New York, Paul Rosenberg & Co., Paintings by Bonnard and Vuillard, 1943, no. 11
Paris, Galerie Schmit, Regards sur une collection, XIXème-XXème siècles, 1981, no. 84, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Antoine Salomon & Guy Cogeval, Vuillard, The Inexhaustible Glance: Critical Catalogue of Paintings and Pastels, vol. II, Paris, 2003, no. VII-504, illustrated in color p. 791

Please contact the Impressionist & Modern Art department directly for a condition report of this lot
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.

This dazzling still life highlights Vuillard’s remarkable ability to transform even the simplest arrangement of quotidian objects into a glowing composition. Vuillard achieves a near perfect balance between the decorative tendencies of the Nabis movement and the new realism of the period following the turn of the century. The division of the composition into rectangular zones as well as the mixture of a variety of decorative motifs recall the prevailing style of the 1890s. However, the different motifs remain distinct and the technique varies according to the subject matter. The clever distribution of shadow and light contrast with the abstracted qualities of the wall in the background, creating the effect of perspective by situating each object in real space. The present work typifies the artist’s striking synthesis of the intimisme of his earlier pictures with a newfound vitality of color that was to define his most celebrated turn-of-the-century output. This still life represents Vuillard's stylistic developments, expressing his attraction to abstracted qualities of decoration all the while confirming this commitment to the naturalist ideas that were in vogue at the time. However, this painting could equally be seen as a reflection of the artist’s state of mind and emotions. It was these private sentiments that Gide would recall several years later when he reviewed Vuillard’s work at the Salon d’Automne: “[Vuillard] is the most intimate of the story-tellers… I think it must be because his brush never breaks free of the emotion which guides it; the outer world, for Vuillard, is always a pretext, an adjustable means of expression" (André Gide, "Promenade au Salon d’Automne," in La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, December 1, 1905, n.p.).