Lot Essay
In September 1888, Sérusier met Gauguin at Pont-Aven and under his influence began to experiment with a new style of painting in which simple forms and flat colours were chosen for emotional rather than descriptive reasons. Sérusier was the first to introduce this style, often referred to as Synthesism or Cloisonnism, to other young artists in Paris, who were later to be known as the Nabis. He explained that "instead of copying nature as one perceived it, one should represent it, transmute it into a play of vivid colours, emphasizing simple, expressive, original arabesques for the pleasure of the eye" (J. Rewald, Post-Impressionism from van Gogh to Gauguin, New York, 1956, p. 275).
Sérusier returned to Brittany for the next few summers, and became a pivotal member of the school of Pont-Aven.
The present work is closely related to van Gogh's Spitters of 1889, now in the Stedelijk Musuem, Amsterdam (Fig. 1). It is no coincidence that in March 1892, Sérusier visited the widow of Theo van Gogh with his friend Jan Verkade in Bussum. The two paintings share a common subject and technique, whereby the picture surface is animated by long vibrant brushstrokes, the figures are boldly outlined almost in silhouette, and the hay and earth are composed of serpentine forms which seem to writhe around the toiling workers.
Marcel Guicheteau has described Le Faneur in the following words; "Toile au synthétisme puissant qui constitue une des plus hautes expressions du symbolisme proprement pictural: horizon tout proche, 'lunaire', comme nous dirions aujourd'hui, à peine repris, à droite, en sa ligne presque sphérique par l'arabesque d'une colline plus lontaine, haut lieu, dans tous les sens de ce mot, du travail humain. Misère résignée, presque joyeuse en sa ténacité, espace à la fois étroit et lourd comme la peine, mais immense comme la noblesse et l'espoir" ( op.cit., p. 71).
Sérusier returned to Brittany for the next few summers, and became a pivotal member of the school of Pont-Aven.
The present work is closely related to van Gogh's Spitters of 1889, now in the Stedelijk Musuem, Amsterdam (Fig. 1). It is no coincidence that in March 1892, Sérusier visited the widow of Theo van Gogh with his friend Jan Verkade in Bussum. The two paintings share a common subject and technique, whereby the picture surface is animated by long vibrant brushstrokes, the figures are boldly outlined almost in silhouette, and the hay and earth are composed of serpentine forms which seem to writhe around the toiling workers.
Marcel Guicheteau has described Le Faneur in the following words; "Toile au synthétisme puissant qui constitue une des plus hautes expressions du symbolisme proprement pictural: horizon tout proche, 'lunaire', comme nous dirions aujourd'hui, à peine repris, à droite, en sa ligne presque sphérique par l'arabesque d'une colline plus lontaine, haut lieu, dans tous les sens de ce mot, du travail humain. Misère résignée, presque joyeuse en sa ténacité, espace à la fois étroit et lourd comme la peine, mais immense comme la noblesse et l'espoir" ( op.cit., p. 71).