Paul Czanne (1839-1936)

Les arbres

Details

Paul Czanne (1839-1936)
Czanne, P.
Les arbres
watercolor and gouache on paper
18.1/8 x 13 in. (46 x 33.5 cm.)
Painted in 1882-1884

Provenance

Paul Czanne fils, Paris.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris.
Dikran Khan Kelekian, Paris and New York; sale, American Art Galleries, New York, 30-31 January 1922, lot 20.
Fearon Gallery, New York.
Mrs. Cornelius Sullivan, New York.
Mrs. Grace R. Rogers, New York (acquired from the above); estate sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, 18 November 1943, lot 44.
Katherine Urquhart Warren, Newport and New York (acquired at the above sale).
By descent from the above to the late owner.

Literature

L. Venturi, Czanne son art -- son oeuvre, Paris, 1936, vol. I, p. 262, no. 980 (dated 1885-1887; later revised, 1883-1884; illustrated, vol. II, pl. 296).
A. Neumeyer, Czanne Drawings, New York and London, 1958, p. 58 (illustrated, pl. 76).
J. Rewald, Paul Czanne: The Watercolors, Boston, 1983, p. 125, no. 164 (illustrated).

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Aquarelles & Pastels de Czanne, H. E. Cross, Degas, Jongkind, Camille Pissarro, K. X. Roussel, Paul Signac, Vuillard, May 1909, no. 7.
New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Paintings by Modern French Masters, 1921, no. 22 (illustrated).
Springfield, Massachusetts, Museum of Art, Opening Exhibition, 1933, no. 103.
New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Czanne, March-April 1947, no. 73. Providence, Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art, Czanne, September-October 1954, no. 6.
New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Czanne, November-December 1959, no. 70.

Lot Essay

The artist's choice of motif is profoundly straightforward, and in its simplicity his subject assumes an heroic dimension. As Alfred Neumeyer has pointed out about this watercolor (op. cit.), "The prevailing tone is blue-violet contrasted with the brown in the stems and the wall in the background." This cool tonality hints at a wintry ambience, and the artist effectively utilizes white gouache or bodycolor to create frostlike tints in the composition. Czanne was expert at playing off the transparency of his pigments against the whiteness of the sheet, and in the present work his use of semi-opaque touches of gouache makes for even more delicate and subtle contrasts that represent airy volumes, define distance and create a sense of season and mood.

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