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Lot Essay
WITH HIS REJECTION OF LOOSE IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING METHODS AT THE END OF THE 1880S, HENRI-EDMOND CROSS ADOPTED THE NEW PAINTING TECHNIQUE OF HIS CLOSE FRIENDS GEORGES SEURAT AND PAUL SIGNAC. THE RIGOURS OF STRICT DIVISIONISM, HOWEVER, WERE LESS SUITED TO HIS IMAGINARY, QUASI-POLITICAL ARTISTIC VISION AND WITH HIS MOVE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST IN 1891, HE SOON ADAPTED THE POINTILLIST STYLE TO SUIT HIS MORE PLANAR, RHYTHMIC METHOD, OPENING OUT THE PRESCRIBED DOT OF PURE COLOUR TO A LARGER, RECTANGULAR TACHE, MORE REMINISCENT OF A TESSARA IN A MOSAIC.
LE CAP NèGRE, LA BAIE DE PRAMOUSQUIER, SITUATED ON THE COAST OF THE MIDI, BETWEEN TOULON AND ST TROPEZ, IS A CHARACTERISTIC SUBJECT FROM CROSS'S LATER YEARS, SITUATED JUST TWO MILES AWAY FROM HIS HOME IN ST CLAIR. THE PRESENT WORK HAS A FREEDOM AND EBULLIENCE WHICH RECALLS THE EXPRESSIVE COLOURS OF THE FAUVES, WORKING AT THE SAME TIME ON COASTAL SUBJECTS ELSEWHERE IN FRANCE. THE ARTFUL COMPOSITION OF INTERLOCKING PLANES AND THE CAREFUL ATTENTION PAID TO JUXTAPOSING REGULAR TACHES OF COMPLEMENTARIES ARE, HOWEVER, MORE QUINTESSENTIALLY CROSS THAN THE FREER, LESS RIGOROUS BRUSHWORK OF THE FAUVES.
ALTHOUGH CROSS STROVE FOR THE IDEAL IN HIS ART - A HARMONY OF SUBJECT, COLOUR AND FORM - HE REALISED COMPROMISE WAS INEVITABLE; THAT, TO USE ZOLA'S PHRASE, ART CAN ONLY EVER BE 'A CORNER OF THE WORLD SEEN THROUGH A TEMPERAMENT'. AS CROSS WROTE TO HIS FRIEND AND FELLOW POINTILLIST THéO VAN RYSSELBERGHE, THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THE PRESENT PICTURE: 'HARMONY IMPLIES SACRIFICES. WE ALWAYS PROCEED FROM AN IMPRESSION OF NATURE. WELL, RELATIVE TO NATURE ONE CANNOT PUT EVERYTHING ON A CANVAS, AND IT ISN'T SO MUCH THAT ONE CAN'T PUT EVERYTHING, BUT THAT ONE CAN PUT ONLY VERY LITTLE. THESE FEW THINGS BECOME EVERYTHING - THE WORK OF THE MAN' (CROSS TO VAN RYSSELBERGHE, UNDATED, QUOTED IN J. REWALD, POST-IMPRESSIONISM FROM VAN GOGH TO GAUGUIN, NEW YORK, 1962, P. 130).
LE CAP NèGRE, LA BAIE DE PRAMOUSQUIER, SITUATED ON THE COAST OF THE MIDI, BETWEEN TOULON AND ST TROPEZ, IS A CHARACTERISTIC SUBJECT FROM CROSS'S LATER YEARS, SITUATED JUST TWO MILES AWAY FROM HIS HOME IN ST CLAIR. THE PRESENT WORK HAS A FREEDOM AND EBULLIENCE WHICH RECALLS THE EXPRESSIVE COLOURS OF THE FAUVES, WORKING AT THE SAME TIME ON COASTAL SUBJECTS ELSEWHERE IN FRANCE. THE ARTFUL COMPOSITION OF INTERLOCKING PLANES AND THE CAREFUL ATTENTION PAID TO JUXTAPOSING REGULAR TACHES OF COMPLEMENTARIES ARE, HOWEVER, MORE QUINTESSENTIALLY CROSS THAN THE FREER, LESS RIGOROUS BRUSHWORK OF THE FAUVES.
ALTHOUGH CROSS STROVE FOR THE IDEAL IN HIS ART - A HARMONY OF SUBJECT, COLOUR AND FORM - HE REALISED COMPROMISE WAS INEVITABLE; THAT, TO USE ZOLA'S PHRASE, ART CAN ONLY EVER BE 'A CORNER OF THE WORLD SEEN THROUGH A TEMPERAMENT'. AS CROSS WROTE TO HIS FRIEND AND FELLOW POINTILLIST THéO VAN RYSSELBERGHE, THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THE PRESENT PICTURE: 'HARMONY IMPLIES SACRIFICES. WE ALWAYS PROCEED FROM AN IMPRESSION OF NATURE. WELL, RELATIVE TO NATURE ONE CANNOT PUT EVERYTHING ON A CANVAS, AND IT ISN'T SO MUCH THAT ONE CAN'T PUT EVERYTHING, BUT THAT ONE CAN PUT ONLY VERY LITTLE. THESE FEW THINGS BECOME EVERYTHING - THE WORK OF THE MAN' (CROSS TO VAN RYSSELBERGHE, UNDATED, QUOTED IN J. REWALD, POST-IMPRESSIONISM FROM VAN GOGH TO GAUGUIN, NEW YORK, 1962, P. 130).