拍品专文
Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida's international reputation was secured following the landmark success of his inaugural exhibition and sale in 1909 at the Hispanic Society of America. During the one-month span of the New York exhibition (8 February-8 March), attendance reached 160,000 visitors and Sorolla sold 195 paintings. Naturally, the artist welcomed Archer Milton Huntington's invitation to return to the Society for a future exhibition. Huntington, both founder and president of the Hispanic Society of America, was to become one of Sorolla's greatest promoters in the United States.
In preparation for his forthcoming commitment, Sorolla returned to Spain and, accompanied by his family, travelled to his native town of Valencia. It is likely Sorolla executed Children at the Beach during this summer of 1910. Valencia's exquisite surroundings of the sea and beach provided an opportunity to paint en plein-air which was of paramount importance to Sorolla. Indeed, as James Gibbons Huneker notes,"...he [Sorolla] is the painter of vibrating sunshine without equal. Let there be no mincing of comparisons in this assertion. Not Turner, not Monet, painted so directly blinding shafts of sunlight as has this Spaniard" (quoted in E. Peel, The Painter Joaquin Sorolla, New York, 1989, exh. cat., p. 13).
Children at the Beach was featured in the Art Institute of Chicago's 1911 monographic exhibition on Sorolla. This painting evokes the peaceful sentiments of a day at the beach as the shade of the late afternoon sun draws across the wet bodies of the two young children. This hour of day and the palette are reminiscent of Sorolla's Clotilde y Elena en las Rocas, Jvea (Christie's, New York, 22 May 1997, lot 163). Indeed, as the art critc Henri Richefort commented on Sorolla's art "never has a brush contained so much... sun" (quoted in P.E. Muller, The Painter Joacquin Sorolla, New York, 1989, exh. cat., p. 62).
It is interesting to note that during the Chicago exhibition the young boy is depicted without his bathing trunks (fig. 1). It is impossible to determine if this change was made by Sorolla, or by another artist in order to appease the conservative American taste of the time. Stylistically and technically, this area of the painting is totally congrous with the body of the boy and the rest of the painting, therefore supporting the theory that Sorolla was responsible for this change. This hypothesis is also supported by the fact that Sorolla had a strong buying audience in his new American clientele, and it would have been in his best interest to please them. This was a common practice between 19th Century European painters, and their American patrons, who often asked that the paintings be changed to meet their specifications. However, Blanca Pons Sorolla feels the alteration to our painting may be the work of another hand.
Blanca Pons Sorolla has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
(fig. 1) Sorolla Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, 1911
photo: courtesy Blanca Pons Sorolla
In preparation for his forthcoming commitment, Sorolla returned to Spain and, accompanied by his family, travelled to his native town of Valencia. It is likely Sorolla executed Children at the Beach during this summer of 1910. Valencia's exquisite surroundings of the sea and beach provided an opportunity to paint en plein-air which was of paramount importance to Sorolla. Indeed, as James Gibbons Huneker notes,"...he [Sorolla] is the painter of vibrating sunshine without equal. Let there be no mincing of comparisons in this assertion. Not Turner, not Monet, painted so directly blinding shafts of sunlight as has this Spaniard" (quoted in E. Peel, The Painter Joaquin Sorolla, New York, 1989, exh. cat., p. 13).
Children at the Beach was featured in the Art Institute of Chicago's 1911 monographic exhibition on Sorolla. This painting evokes the peaceful sentiments of a day at the beach as the shade of the late afternoon sun draws across the wet bodies of the two young children. This hour of day and the palette are reminiscent of Sorolla's Clotilde y Elena en las Rocas, Jvea (Christie's, New York, 22 May 1997, lot 163). Indeed, as the art critc Henri Richefort commented on Sorolla's art "never has a brush contained so much... sun" (quoted in P.E. Muller, The Painter Joacquin Sorolla, New York, 1989, exh. cat., p. 62).
It is interesting to note that during the Chicago exhibition the young boy is depicted without his bathing trunks (fig. 1). It is impossible to determine if this change was made by Sorolla, or by another artist in order to appease the conservative American taste of the time. Stylistically and technically, this area of the painting is totally congrous with the body of the boy and the rest of the painting, therefore supporting the theory that Sorolla was responsible for this change. This hypothesis is also supported by the fact that Sorolla had a strong buying audience in his new American clientele, and it would have been in his best interest to please them. This was a common practice between 19th Century European painters, and their American patrons, who often asked that the paintings be changed to meet their specifications. However, Blanca Pons Sorolla feels the alteration to our painting may be the work of another hand.
Blanca Pons Sorolla has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
(fig. 1) Sorolla Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, 1911
photo: courtesy Blanca Pons Sorolla