Etienne Bignou

French

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Honoré Daumier, French Theater, c. 1856, oil on wood, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.13

French Theater

Honoré Daumier · c. 1856 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1963.10.13

A glass bottle, a glass carafe, a stemmed glass, several pieces of fruit, and white and blue cloths are arranged on a wooden table in this horizontal still life. The bottle and carafe are at the center of this composition. The bottle has a crimson-red label, and the carafe has a tall, narrow neck and a rounded body. The stemmed glass has straight, flaring sides, and it sits on the table just in front of the carafe. Several pieces of fruit, painted in reds and yellows, are interspersed on the white cloth that surrounds the glassware. The muted, celestial-blue tablecloth is patterned with scrolls and leaves, and it bunches around the objects on the tabletop. The wall behind the table is mottled with cool blues and greens, and a brown line, perhaps a chair rail, runs from behind the still life to the right edge of the painting. Short brushstrokes are visible throughout.
Paul Cezanne, The Peppermint Bottle, 1893/1895, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.104

The Peppermint Bottle

Paul Cezanne · 1893/1895 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.104

We look across a river at a long, flat bridge that runs parallel to a hazy, city skyline in the distance in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted with visible dashes and strokes of mostly pastel blue, ivory white, muted mauve purple, and navy blue. The flat bridge spans the width of the composition along the horizon, which comes a third of the way up the canvas. The sky above is filled with clouds painted in muted tones of cream white, pale blue, and a few touches of shell pink, which mirror the water below. Along the horizon, buildings with spires and towers stretch from our right about two-thirds of the way across the canvas. To our left, a cluster of several boats, tiny in scale, gather near the bridge. Closer, and to our right, three larger ferries are crowded with passengers who are represented by minuscule daubs of brightly colored paint, mostly in black, golden yellow, crimson red, sky and cobalt blue, and ivory white. These boats are painted in short, flat brushstrokes in bands of flame red and midnight blue. The artist signed and dated the work at the lower left: "C. Pissarro, 1890."
Camille Pissarro, Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.32

Charing Cross Bridge, London

Camille Pissarro · 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.32

André Derain, Harlequin, 1919, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.129

Harlequin

André Derain · 1919 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.129

Odilon Redon, Pansies, c. 1905, pastel on brown paper, Rosenwald Collection, Gift of the Adele R. Levy Fund, Inc., 1961.14.1

Pansies

Odilon Redon · c. 1905 · pastel on brown paper ·  Accession ID  1961.14.1

A geranium with vibrant pink blossoms sits in a terracotta pot on a ledge in front of two shelves in this stylized, vertical still life painting. The orange terracotta pot has patches of vivid spring green around its base. The rounded leaves of the plant and petals of the blossom are outlined in black and filled in with areas of parakeet and moss green for the leaves and pink for the petals. The pot sits on a bright, lavender-purple ledge, and two more shelves are stacked behind it. A single terracotta pot sits to our left behind the plant on the lower shelf, and four pots are lined up on the shelf above, cut off by the top edge of the canvas. Brushstrokes are visible throughout. A turquoise strip runs along the bottom edge of the composition, and the artist signed the lower right corner, “Henri Matisse.”
Henri Matisse, Pot of Geraniums, 1912, oil on linen, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.41

Pot of Geraniums

Henri Matisse · 1912 · oil on linen ·  Accession ID  1963.10.41

Two animals with golden yellow, brown, and black fur peer out from behind dense jungle foliage in this stylized, vertical painting. Most of the composition is filled with broadly painted areas of sage, olive, moss, and lemon-lime green to create an impenetrable wall of plants and growth. An oval of slate-blue sky to the left of upper center is framed by plants that grow up and off the top corners of the painting. Small in scale and nestled back among the growth near the lower center, the animal to our right has black eyes that look at or toward us, a long nose, and gray around its mouth and eyes. It has triangular ears and its body, which extends to our right, is dark brown with a lifted tail. To our left, another smaller animal, perhaps a baby, is mostly obscured by a fern frond and grass. This animal has small black eyes and chestnut-brown and black fur. Three large, stylized flowers with fuchsia-pink centers and pale petals grow above the animals, to our left. An oversized white hyacinth grows to our right. A narrow, brick-red bird sits on a branch above the pink flowers, almost lost among the plants. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “Henri Julien Rousseau 1909.”
Henri Rousseau, The Equatorial Jungle, 1909, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.213

The Equatorial Jungle

Henri Rousseau · 1909 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.213

Maurice de Vlaminck, Carrières-Saint-Denis, 1918/1920, oil on linen, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.224

Carrières-Saint-Denis

Maurice de Vlaminck · 1918/1920 · oil on linen ·  Accession ID  1963.10.224

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Portrait of a Young Girl, 1850 or 1859, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.9

Portrait of a Young Girl

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot · 1850 or 1859 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.9

A young and older man, both with pale skin, stand next to each other in shadowy room looking at a piece of white paper held by the older man in this vertical painting. Light from the upper left falls across the men, and they take up most of the height of the composition. The paper is held by a balding, elderly man at the center of the painting. He wears a knee-length, dark brown jacket and trousers. His has a gray beard and hair, and thin black lines delineate his brows and trace the creases on his face. A younger man standing to our left has short black hair and ruddy skin. He tilts his head to gaze at the paper in the older man’s hands. The younger man wears a sage-green jacket, and his lower body is partially hidden by a wooden rack before him. The V-shaped rack supports an open, dark green portfolio folder, and the young man rests his hands on the edges of more sheets of paper there. There are two paintings hanging on the olive-green wall of the room to each side of the men, but they are loosely painted and deep in shadow, so the subjects are difficult to make out. Another aquamarine-blue folder rests against a red bed or sofa that runs along the back wall. A white, folded cloth sits on the sofa above the portfolio. The artist signed the lower left, “h. Daumier.”
Honoré Daumier, Advice to a Young Artist, 1865/1868, oil on canvas, Gift of Duncan Phillips, 1941.6.1

Advice to a Young Artist

Honoré Daumier · 1865/1868 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1941.6.1

Bibliography

1976

  • Cooper, Douglas, introduction. Alex Reid & Lefevre 1926-1976. London, 1976