Lot Essay
Vuillard was first introduced to Arthur Fontaine, the State Conseiller and Minister of Labour, by Maurice Denis in 1897. Fontaine was related by marriage to both the composer Ernest Chausson, and the painter Henri Lerolle, who were also part of Vuillard's social circle. With Denis, Fontaine helped to found L'Occidente, the literary review designed to promote Western art.
Monsieur amd Madame Fontaine were amongst a new group of collectors, which included Jos and Lucie Hessel, whom Vuillard befriended after the Bernheim-Jeune brothers had officially been appointed his dealers. Vuillard painted them in their fashionable houses, using a larger, more relaxed format than he had used before. "The reduced tension is often charming. His looser brushwork and colour arrangements often result in a delightful, even gay picture which is far removed from the brooding harmonies of his earlier small panels" (A. Carnduff Ritchie, Edouard Vuillard, New York, 1954, p. 24).
Claude Roger-Marx continues "Ravished by the enchantment of these scenes, where happiness seems to flourish, it is happiness he attempts to portray. He is animated by manifest sympathy and even by a kind of tenderness for his subjects and the gilded peace he saw there, especially when he found himself among people who liked him, such as...the Bernheim's house in the Avenue Henri-Martin, Lerolle's or Arthur Fontaine's, the Villa des Etincelles at Villerville or Bois-Lurette at Villers...With the Hessels, Tristans and Fontaines, he was at home" (C. Roger-Marx, Vuillard, His Life and Work, London, 1946, pp. 67 and 89).
At about this time, Signac noted the transformation in Vuillard's handling of colour: "[Vuillard's] deftly noted interiors have great charm. He has a marvellous understanding of the timbre of things. They're the work of a fine painter...The contrast of tone, the skilfully achieved chiaroscuro, these balance a scheme of colour, which...is always unusual and delicate" (see J. Rewald, 'Diaries of Paul Signac', La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, April, 1952).
That Vuillard considered Causerie chez les Fontaines one of his finest works of 1904 is made clear by his keeness to include the painting in the Salon d'Automne, held from October to November of that year, after it had been purchased from him by the Bernheim-Jeunes on 14th June.
Writing on this exhibition, Claude-Marx defines the painter's development "The boundary crossed by Vuillard is decisive. The elect are not alone in proclaiming the subtle quality of his art. We perceive continuity in the refinement of his vision and the enrichment of his technique. We hear an unknown language expressing with singularly persuasive eloquence the quietude of the modern home, with its cheerful panellings shutting in the solitary dreamer or reader" (R. Claude-Marx, op.cit., p. 66).
To be included in the forthcoming Vuillard catalogue raisonné being prepared by Antoine Salomon and Annette Leduc Beaulieu from the records and under the responsibility of Antoine Salomon.
We are extremely grateful to Antoine Salomon for his extensive research and major contribution to this catalogue entry.
Monsieur amd Madame Fontaine were amongst a new group of collectors, which included Jos and Lucie Hessel, whom Vuillard befriended after the Bernheim-Jeune brothers had officially been appointed his dealers. Vuillard painted them in their fashionable houses, using a larger, more relaxed format than he had used before. "The reduced tension is often charming. His looser brushwork and colour arrangements often result in a delightful, even gay picture which is far removed from the brooding harmonies of his earlier small panels" (A. Carnduff Ritchie, Edouard Vuillard, New York, 1954, p. 24).
Claude Roger-Marx continues "Ravished by the enchantment of these scenes, where happiness seems to flourish, it is happiness he attempts to portray. He is animated by manifest sympathy and even by a kind of tenderness for his subjects and the gilded peace he saw there, especially when he found himself among people who liked him, such as...the Bernheim's house in the Avenue Henri-Martin, Lerolle's or Arthur Fontaine's, the Villa des Etincelles at Villerville or Bois-Lurette at Villers...With the Hessels, Tristans and Fontaines, he was at home" (C. Roger-Marx, Vuillard, His Life and Work, London, 1946, pp. 67 and 89).
At about this time, Signac noted the transformation in Vuillard's handling of colour: "[Vuillard's] deftly noted interiors have great charm. He has a marvellous understanding of the timbre of things. They're the work of a fine painter...The contrast of tone, the skilfully achieved chiaroscuro, these balance a scheme of colour, which...is always unusual and delicate" (see J. Rewald, 'Diaries of Paul Signac', La Gazette des Beaux-Arts, April, 1952).
That Vuillard considered Causerie chez les Fontaines one of his finest works of 1904 is made clear by his keeness to include the painting in the Salon d'Automne, held from October to November of that year, after it had been purchased from him by the Bernheim-Jeunes on 14th June.
Writing on this exhibition, Claude-Marx defines the painter's development "The boundary crossed by Vuillard is decisive. The elect are not alone in proclaiming the subtle quality of his art. We perceive continuity in the refinement of his vision and the enrichment of his technique. We hear an unknown language expressing with singularly persuasive eloquence the quietude of the modern home, with its cheerful panellings shutting in the solitary dreamer or reader" (R. Claude-Marx, op.cit., p. 66).
To be included in the forthcoming Vuillard catalogue raisonné being prepared by Antoine Salomon and Annette Leduc Beaulieu from the records and under the responsibility of Antoine Salomon.
We are extremely grateful to Antoine Salomon for his extensive research and major contribution to this catalogue entry.