909. Pierre Auguste Renoir (France 1841‑1919). Femme nue debout. Signed Renoir. Oil on relined canvas, 21.5 x 16 cm.

SEK 350.000 – 400.000     € 33.000 – 38.000 

This work will be included in the critical catalogue of Pierre Auguste Renoir’s paintings being prepared by the Wildenstein Institute and is accompanied by an Attestation of Inclusion from the Wildenstein Institute signed and dated by Guy Wildenstein Paris 23 December 2015.

Provenance:
Ambroise Vollard (1866‑1939), Paris.
Jos Hessel (1859‑1942), Paris.
Etienne Bignou (1891‑1950), Paris.
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, London, 3 July 1979, lot 55.
Acquired at the above sale by the previous owner.
Impressionist & Modern Art & Picasso Ceramics, Christie’s, London, 5 February 2016, lot 36.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

IN CONTEXT

A naked woman with her head slightly turned towards the artist, captured with an intensity and sharpness in the brushstrokes that invites the viewer to an intimate moment.

Pierre Auguste Renoir – the name itself forever printed in every single book about art history. As one of the most significant artists of all times he had a huge impact on the development of the art world in the dynamic decades around the second half of the 19th century. The painting included in this sale by Renoir offers a unique possibility to acquire a true piece of one of our greatest artists of all times.

Among others, together with Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro, Renoir participated in the first Impressionist exhibition that took place in Paris in April 1874. Prior to that, his paintings had not been appreciated and the jury of the Salon regularly rejected him. However, just a few years later, the situation changed when his painting ”Mme Charpentier and her Children” from 1878 was highly admired and from then his success as a fashionable painter was a fact.

Renoir celebrated the beautiful. Following a long tradition of the admiration of the sensual femininity this is something that unifies his artistry. Many are his works that acclaim the female mysticism and Renoir himself interprets this in his own significant style with a sincere understanding. He was also the master of light and handled its challenges to perfection, as seen in the vivid luscious woman in the sale’s painting “Femme nue debout”.

The painting also has a very interesting provenance since it origins from three persons that were of the greatest importance for the impressionists. Ambroise Vollard was one of the most prominent art dealers in Paris and also had a highly important collection himself. Vollard supported many of those who was to become the greatest artists of his time when they were still unknown, among these Cézanne, Maillol, Picasso, Derain, van Gogh, Gauguin and of course Renoir. After Vollard, the painting continued to Jos Hessel, also a noted collector and dealer in Paris around the turn of the decade. Furthermore it proceeded to Étienne Bignou, a Parisian dealer as well, who introduced the impressionists to the American public in his Manhattan gallery.

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