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Léon Augustin Lhermitte
He [Lhermitte] is the absolute master of the figure, he does what he likes with it - proceeding neither from the color nor the local tone, but rather from the light - as Rembrandt did - there is an astonishing mastery in everything he does, above all excelling in modeling, he perfectly satisfies all that honesty demands.
- Vincent van Gogh
Working in charcoal, oil and pastel, Léon Augustin Lhermitte produced an oeuvre of astounding virtuosity to which the present body of work attests. He seldom deviated from the sun-dappled depiction of the French rural landscape and its glorious heroes and heroines - gleaners, laundresses and farm laborers - set in harmonious accord. His paintings are indebted to the beauty of the Barbizon landscape painters, such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and to the subtle strength of the French realists, such as Jean François Millet and Julien Dupré. Lhermitte never descended into sentimentalism when rendering la vie rustique; his depiction of rustic activity always embodied dignity and grace in the wake of increasing industrialization.
Lhermitte was born in 1844 in Mont-Saint-Père à Aisne. As a young child he was frequently ill, and so spent a great deal of time drawing portraits of his parents and copying engravings found in such popular publications as Le magasin pittoresque and La muse des familles. A neighbor took notice of his talent early on and made the fortuitous decision of showing his work to the Minister of State and of Fine Arts, Count Alexandre Walewski, who secured a renewable scholarship for the young artist that allowed him to attend courses at the Ecole Imperiale du Dessin in Paris (the Petit Ecole).
During his second year at the Petit Ecole, Lhermitte exhibited his first work at the Salon, a charcoal drawing executed in black and white - a fusain - that he produced when he was only nineteen years old. It is telling that his first Salon entry happened to be a drawing for he would continue to publicly exhibit drawings for the majority of his career, doing so until 1889. Like van Gogh, Lhermitte placed great emphasis on his drawings, reveling in the subtle contrasts of light and dark produced by charcoal on paper. Interior des paysans (lot 154), a fusain rendered in 1880 near the artist's birthplace of Mont-Saint-Père, reminds us that Lhermitte thought of his drawings as independent works rather than preliminary studies.
In 1887, Lhermitte signed a contract with Boussoud, Valadon & Cie., the illustrious gallery through which many of the following works have passed. His paintings reached elevated prices in 1910, mostly due to the increasing demand from American and British clients of the gallery.
Les lavandeuses a Chelle (lot 153) and A la fontaine (lot 147) typify the most desirable of Lhermitte's works that cemented his international acclaim. Both paintings display the artist's mastery of capturing la vie rustique, prompting one reviewer to write, 'One can learn more about daily life from his paintings than by reading a short story by Maupassant or by Zola. Lhermitte pointedly ignored the Industrial Revolution, fixing instead on the image of a society before its disappearance, the vision of a paradise lost for the citizens of big cities, of a time frozen outside the march of history' (M. de Pelley-Fonteny, Exhibition catalogue, Leon Lhermitte, 1844-1925, Galerie Michel, 1989, pp. 2-3.)
(fig. 1) Leon Lhermitte.
(fig.2) Lhermitte sketching Washerwomen on the Marne.
(fig. 3) Lhermitte with Workers.
Léon Augustin Lhermitte (French, 1844-1925)
A la fontaine
Details
Léon Augustin Lhermitte (French, 1844-1925)
A la fontaine
signed 'L. Lhermitte' (lower left)
oil on canvas
33¾ x 40 in. (85.7 x 101.6 cm.)
Painted circa 1914
A la fontaine
signed 'L. Lhermitte' (lower left)
oil on canvas
33¾ x 40 in. (85.7 x 101.6 cm.)
Painted circa 1914
Provenance
with Allard, no. 5221.
Chaim (or Chanu).
with Bartfield Galleries, New York, 1970.
Private Collection, England.
Commerce de l'Art, Paris, 1990-1991.
with MacConnal-Mason & Son, London.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 3 May 2000, lot 33.
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner.
Chaim (or Chanu).
with Bartfield Galleries, New York, 1970.
Private Collection, England.
Commerce de l'Art, Paris, 1990-1991.
with MacConnal-Mason & Son, London.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 3 May 2000, lot 33.
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner.
Literature
Connoisseur, April, 1970.
M. M. Hamel, A French Artist: Léon Lhermitte: 1844-1925, Ph.D. dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis, 1974, c. 314, no. 311. Paine Art Center & Arboretum, Léon Lhermitte: An International Exhibition Organized by the Paine Art Center & Arboretum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1974, no. 55.
M. Le Pelley Fonteny, Léon Augustin Lhermitte: 1844-1925: Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1991, p. 148, no. 228 (illustrated).
M. M. Hamel, A French Artist: Léon Lhermitte: 1844-1925, Ph.D. dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis, 1974, c. 314, no. 311. Paine Art Center & Arboretum, Léon Lhermitte: An International Exhibition Organized by the Paine Art Center & Arboretum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1974, no. 55.
M. Le Pelley Fonteny, Léon Augustin Lhermitte: 1844-1925: Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1991, p. 148, no. 228 (illustrated).
Exhibited
Paris, Salon, 1914, no. 788.
Oshkosh, The Paine Art Center and Arboretum, Léon Lhermitte: An International Exhibition, September-November, 1974, no. 55.
Oshkosh, The Paine Art Center and Arboretum, Léon Lhermitte: An International Exhibition, September-November, 1974, no. 55.