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Lot Essay
Painted between November 1907 and January 1908, Avant l'orage exemplifies Cross' preoccupation with the motif of the bather, which for him evoked feelings of idyllicism and also offered an ideal arena in which to play out his mature colour theory. In 1905 he explained to his close friend, Theo van Rysselberghe, that 'on the rocks, on the sand of the beaches, nymphs and naïds appear to me, a whole world born of beautiful light' (quoted in Neo-Impressionism, exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1968, p. 47).
During the last ten years of his life Cross suffered from ill health. It was, nevertheless, his most productive period and his paintings became ever more lyrical and inventive. Another artistic ally, Maurice Denis, stated of Cross' output in these years: 'Cross has resolved to represent the sun, not by bleaching his colours, but by exalting them, and by the boldness of his colour contrasts... the sun is not for him a phenomenon which makes everything white, but is a source of harmony which hots up nature's colours, authorises the most heightened colour-scale, and provides the subject for all sorts of colour fantasies' (quoted by J. House, Post-Impressionism, exh. cat. Royal Academy of Art, London, 1979, p. 61).
There exists a pencil drawing of the female nude depicted in the present work, formerly in the collection of Mr and Mrs Hugo Perls, New York.
During the last ten years of his life Cross suffered from ill health. It was, nevertheless, his most productive period and his paintings became ever more lyrical and inventive. Another artistic ally, Maurice Denis, stated of Cross' output in these years: 'Cross has resolved to represent the sun, not by bleaching his colours, but by exalting them, and by the boldness of his colour contrasts... the sun is not for him a phenomenon which makes everything white, but is a source of harmony which hots up nature's colours, authorises the most heightened colour-scale, and provides the subject for all sorts of colour fantasies' (quoted by J. House, Post-Impressionism, exh. cat. Royal Academy of Art, London, 1979, p. 61).
There exists a pencil drawing of the female nude depicted in the present work, formerly in the collection of Mr and Mrs Hugo Perls, New York.