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Lot Essay
Robert Louis Stevenson's description of the village of Grez-sur-Loing, eight kilometers south of Fontainebleau, as a 'pretty and very melancholy' place, marks the inauguration in 1875 of an artists' colony which was to remain a popular haunt until the Great War. 'Melancholy' was dispelled when successive waves of painters took temporary residence at its two hotels. British and Americans were among the first, and of these, Louis Welden Hawkins quickly acquired an almost legendary reputation. Son of an Austrian Baroness and British naval officer, he had shared accommodation in Paris with George Moore, and friendship with the decadent poet aristocrat, Robert de Montesquiou, during his student years at the atelier Julian.
However it was only after his arrival at Grez-sur-Loing, and his meteoric success at the Salon of 1881 with Les Orphelins, (Mairie, Pouyastruc) that Hawkins' 'tonalist' style emerged. This 'jewel', purchased by the French government, was hailed by the critic of Le Figaro, Albert Wolff, as evidence of new talent, comparable to that of Jules Bastien-Lepage and Jean-Charles Cazin. Throughout the following two years Hawkins exploited his success with a series of canvases showing contemplative peasant girls standing in kitchen gardens, or, as in the present case, gazing at the river grasses of the Loing - a theme which was to be appropriated by Frank O'Meara and Willam Stott of Oldham in their Salon paintings of 1882.
Hawkins' influence was however, more widespread. The careful delineation and cool plein- airisme of his landscapes and figures greatly appealed to American visitors to Grez, such as Alexander Harrison and his brother, Lowell Birge Harrison. The latter's Jeune fille dans le pré (c. 1882, Ville de Grez-sur-Loing), although strongly lit, catches something of the mood of the present work.
Hawkins was still a talking point when John Lavery arrived in Grez in 1883, but by this time, he was admired as much for his audacity as for his painting. Dressed in his best clothes and posing as a collector, the impecunious painter would visit fashionable dealers and inquire if they stocked the work of a certain Weldon Hawkins. It was nevertheless the case that during his flowering at Grez, Hawkins' work attained an exceptional quality which in later years it never successfully recaptured. The rediscovery of the present canvas significantly adds to our understanding of this extraordinary moment.
However it was only after his arrival at Grez-sur-Loing, and his meteoric success at the Salon of 1881 with Les Orphelins, (Mairie, Pouyastruc) that Hawkins' 'tonalist' style emerged. This 'jewel', purchased by the French government, was hailed by the critic of Le Figaro, Albert Wolff, as evidence of new talent, comparable to that of Jules Bastien-Lepage and Jean-Charles Cazin. Throughout the following two years Hawkins exploited his success with a series of canvases showing contemplative peasant girls standing in kitchen gardens, or, as in the present case, gazing at the river grasses of the Loing - a theme which was to be appropriated by Frank O'Meara and Willam Stott of Oldham in their Salon paintings of 1882.
Hawkins' influence was however, more widespread. The careful delineation and cool plein- airisme of his landscapes and figures greatly appealed to American visitors to Grez, such as Alexander Harrison and his brother, Lowell Birge Harrison. The latter's Jeune fille dans le pré (c. 1882, Ville de Grez-sur-Loing), although strongly lit, catches something of the mood of the present work.
Hawkins was still a talking point when John Lavery arrived in Grez in 1883, but by this time, he was admired as much for his audacity as for his painting. Dressed in his best clothes and posing as a collector, the impecunious painter would visit fashionable dealers and inquire if they stocked the work of a certain Weldon Hawkins. It was nevertheless the case that during his flowering at Grez, Hawkins' work attained an exceptional quality which in later years it never successfully recaptured. The rediscovery of the present canvas significantly adds to our understanding of this extraordinary moment.