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Lot Essay
By the mid-1880s Renoir had become increasingly dissatisfied with the techniques of Impressionist paintings and his pictures returned their focus to the fundamentals of classical composition not only in their treatment but also in their choice of subject. Following his trip to Italy in 1881, he became more attuned to the classical traditions of the paysage compos and began to turn away from the Impressionist concept of empirical experience in recording landscapes. Czanne, too, was concerned with structuring nature in his landscape subjects and Renior looked to his work for inspiration. The two artists worked together frequently during the 1880s. In January 1882 Renoir stayed with Czanne at L'Estaque and in December of 1883 he visited him on his return from a painting trip to the Riviera with Monet. In July 1885, Czanne came to stay with Renoir at a house he had rented at La Roche-Guyon and the two artists spent much of their time painting outdoors together. Meyer Schapiro's comments on Czanne at this time are equally applicable to Renoir: "Though painting directly from nature, like the Impressionists, Czanne thought often of the more formal art he admired in the Louvre. He wished to create works of a noble harmony like those of the old masters...[with] completeness and order...that is, to find the forms of the painting in the landscape before him and to render the whole in a more natural coloring based on direct perception of tones and light" (M. Schapiro, Czanne, p. 12).
Les Hauteurs de Trouville shows Renoir's adaptation of Czanne's "constructive stroke". In order to describe the different facets of the topography, he varies his brushwork. The scraggly brush and windswept trees are painted with staccato brushstrokes of broken color, while the coastline in the distance is painted more atmospherically with softer, blended tones. According to Barbara Erlich White, "[during this period] his palette had become pale and dry and his surface...frescolike, despite the liquid pigment" (ibid., p. 158). Indeed, the palette suggests the warmth of the summer sun that made the Normandy coast a haven for vacationing Parisianers. Whereas other artists had flocked to Trouville to capture scenes of the bustling resort, Renoir elects to present a more subdued view of the town as seen from the elevations. In Les Hauteurs de Trouville man is subjugated by nature; both the figures climbing the steep path and the buildings of the town blend with their environs.
Franois Daulte will include this painting in volume IV
(Les Paysages) of his forthcoming Renoir catalogue raisonn.
Les Hauteurs de Trouville shows Renoir's adaptation of Czanne's "constructive stroke". In order to describe the different facets of the topography, he varies his brushwork. The scraggly brush and windswept trees are painted with staccato brushstrokes of broken color, while the coastline in the distance is painted more atmospherically with softer, blended tones. According to Barbara Erlich White, "[during this period] his palette had become pale and dry and his surface...frescolike, despite the liquid pigment" (ibid., p. 158). Indeed, the palette suggests the warmth of the summer sun that made the Normandy coast a haven for vacationing Parisianers. Whereas other artists had flocked to Trouville to capture scenes of the bustling resort, Renoir elects to present a more subdued view of the town as seen from the elevations. In Les Hauteurs de Trouville man is subjugated by nature; both the figures climbing the steep path and the buildings of the town blend with their environs.
Franois Daulte will include this painting in volume IV
(Les Paysages) of his forthcoming Renoir catalogue raisonn.