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Lot Essay
Henri Lebasque moved to Paris in 1885 to study painting. Like many aspiring artists of his generation, Lebasque attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. There he studied under Léon Bonnat but he found the Academy too stifling and quickly assimilated himself with the vanguard Impressionist group. He was a founding member of the Salon d'Automne with Henri Matisse. Painting en plein air, his paintings capture the effects of light with vigorous brushwork and delicate color. L'Escarpolette is characteristic of Lebasque's mature style and depicts his daughters Marthe and Nono who were also two of his most loved subjects. Indeed, Lebasque was so fond of painting his children, he would only start to work with professional models when the time came that they were simply not around as much to sit for him. As Lisa Banner observes: "[Lebasque] followed a definite direction, employing paint to convey domestic life. Intimism, a term which best describes [his] painting, refers to the close domestic subject matter ... In his placid scenes of gardens and beaches, terraces and dinner tables, [he] portrays his family in particular, but in such a way that he appeals to a larger sense of family gathering and devotion" (L.A. Banner, Lebasque, exh. cat., Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco, 1986, p. 12).
In L'Escarpolette we also understand the essence of Impressionism and the ‘fleeting moment’ which is aptly demonstrated through the action of the swing and the sense of movement and spontaneity Lebasque captures as his daughter’s skirt sails from behind her. Marthe notably observed the way her father would work in this style, commenting: "I remember well Lagny, where we settled in 1900. I was then six years old. We would set out walking for entire days and at the whim of his fancy my father would set up his easels" (quoted in L.A. Banner and P.M. Fairbanks, Lebasque 1865-1937, Bedford, 1986, p. 112).
In the present work we witness a continuation of the technique Lebasque developed in the 1890s of using the interplay of light and dark in order to create depth and the overall sense of being in nature’s surroundings. As the light is depicted hitting the plants and foliage in the background, Lebasque chooses to keep his children in the foreground in the shade of the tree, emphasizing their natural backdrop and therefore presenting us with a languid scene full of warmth and tranquility.
In L'Escarpolette we also understand the essence of Impressionism and the ‘fleeting moment’ which is aptly demonstrated through the action of the swing and the sense of movement and spontaneity Lebasque captures as his daughter’s skirt sails from behind her. Marthe notably observed the way her father would work in this style, commenting: "I remember well Lagny, where we settled in 1900. I was then six years old. We would set out walking for entire days and at the whim of his fancy my father would set up his easels" (quoted in L.A. Banner and P.M. Fairbanks, Lebasque 1865-1937, Bedford, 1986, p. 112).
In the present work we witness a continuation of the technique Lebasque developed in the 1890s of using the interplay of light and dark in order to create depth and the overall sense of being in nature’s surroundings. As the light is depicted hitting the plants and foliage in the background, Lebasque chooses to keep his children in the foreground in the shade of the tree, emphasizing their natural backdrop and therefore presenting us with a languid scene full of warmth and tranquility.