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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.
MR. AND MRS. FONTAINE WERE AMONG 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 PREVIOUSLY USED.
RAVISHED BY THE ENCHANTMENT OF THESE SCENES, WHERE HAPPINESS SEEMS TO FLOURISH, IT IS HAPPINESS HE ATTEMPTS TO PORTRAY. HE [VUILLARD] 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 LIKE 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)
MME FONTAINE AU PIANO WAS INCLUDED IN THE SALON D'AUTOMNE HELD FROM OCTOBER TO NOVEMBER, 1904. WRITING ON THIS EXHIBITION, CLAUDE ROGER-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. (C. ROGER-MARX, OP.CIT., P. 66)
ANTOINE SALOMON WILL INCLUDE THIS PAINTING IN HIS FORTHCOMING VUILLARD CATALOGUE RAISONN.
MR. AND MRS. FONTAINE WERE AMONG 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 PREVIOUSLY USED.
RAVISHED BY THE ENCHANTMENT OF THESE SCENES, WHERE HAPPINESS SEEMS TO FLOURISH, IT IS HAPPINESS HE ATTEMPTS TO PORTRAY. HE [VUILLARD] 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 LIKE 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)
MME FONTAINE AU PIANO WAS INCLUDED IN THE SALON D'AUTOMNE HELD FROM OCTOBER TO NOVEMBER, 1904. WRITING ON THIS EXHIBITION, CLAUDE ROGER-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. (C. ROGER-MARX, OP.CIT., P. 66)
ANTOINE SALOMON WILL INCLUDE THIS PAINTING IN HIS FORTHCOMING VUILLARD CATALOGUE RAISONN.