Frederick Carl Frieseke

At the Mirror

circa 1922

Childe Hassam 1859-1935 American The Bather Signed and dated “Childe Hassam” (lower right) Oil on canvas Considered by many to be America’s foremost Impressionist painter, Childe Hassam composed his tranquil and intimate oil on canvas The Bather in the early years of the 20th century. The creation of the artwork aligns with a period of Hassam’s career where the artist’s palette was transforming, matching ever closer with the pale and pastel hues of French Impressionists like Claude Monet. Even the subject — a nude woman — represents a greater alignment with the Impressionist project, as artists of the movement and their non-mythological and non-biblical nudes still generated cries of indecency. With Hassam’s signature brushwork and attention to color, The Bather serves as a dream-like vision, serene and sensuous, of a young woman bathing in a lush forest. While the artist's skill for landscape painting is on display, it is Hassam's command of form, light and color that brings this canvas to life. He creates a captivating composition, placing the nude subject in the bottom left of the canvas. The soft, undulating curves of the woman's body in contrapposto and the glow of her fair skin are balanced by the strong verticals and deep earth tones of the tall trees to her right. Hassam delicately frames the nude in the vivid blues of the distant water, building luminous color that further draws the viewer’s eye and results in a somewhat voyeuristic appeal — endowing his nude with both a natural innocence and an intentional sensuality. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Childe Hassam began his artistic career as a freelance illustrator, working for national publications such as Harper’s Weekly, Scribner’s Monthly, and The Century. His first solo exhibition of watercolors took place in Boston in 1883, and he quickly catapulted onto the international scene, winning a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889. The year before the present work was created, he received the Webb Prize from the Society of American Artists for another landscape painted at Gloucester. Hassam would receive numerous other awards throughout his career, most notably the Gold Medal for Distinguished Services to Fine Art from the American Dealers Association. A true master, Hassam depicted a way of life characteristic of both American and French society, and his work elucidates a critical chapter in American art history. Today, his work resides in the Oval Office of the White House and in numerous important museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others. This painting will be included in Stuart P. Feld's and Kathleen M. Burnside's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work. Circa 1905 Canvas: 24 1/2“ high x 20 18” wide Frame: 35 7/8“ high x 31 1/4” wide x 3 1/4“ deep Provenance: Private Collection of William Young...

Maximilien Luce 1858-1941 French Femme mettant ses bas (Woman putting on her stockings) Pastel on paper Signed "Luce 89" (lower left) Maximilien Luce’s Femme mettant ses bas is a...

For Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Impressionism's pre-eminent figure painter, depicting the nude was an exercise in bringing the canvas to life. He once said, “I look at a nude, I see myriads of minuscule shades. I have to find those which will make the flesh on my canvas come to life and resonate.” This compelling portrait by Renoir entitled Après le bain presents the nude figure of a woman in a serene, private moment, absorbed in the task of drying herself after a bath. The artist’s mastery of light and shading is incredible, achieving a sense of vitality in this otherwise ordinary scene. Renoir is celebrated for his figural work, especially his Rubenesque female nudes, however, it was not until the artist was in his forties that he depicted the nude with any frequency. In 1881, Renoir traveled to Italy, where he studied the works of the Renaissance masters and the ancient art of Pompeii and Rome. Upon his return to France, the nude became his favored subject, and he used the motif to combine the spontaneity of Impressionism with the solid modeling of classical painting. Renoir’s medium here, sanguine, a reddish-brown chalk, was used extensively in the Renaissance by Leonardo (who employed it in his sketches for the Last Supper), Michelangelo and Raphael. Its warm hue lends itself well to depicting flesh, and the chalk drawing allows for a greater focus on line, form and texture in a departure from the aspects of color and light that so often preoccupied the Impressionists. Après le bain conveys the impression of arrested motion with perfect naturalness, deftly capturing the moment before the elegant lines of the sitter's form change position. The sitter is almost certainly Gabrielle Renard, the nanny to Renoir’s children and a frequent model for the artist. Gabrielle was the cousin of Renoir’s wife, Aline, and came to Montmartre to work for the family at the age of 16. She developed a strong bond with the family and became a favorite subject for Renoir, appearing in several of his most important works, including his 1911 Gabrielle with a Rose (Musée d'Orsay). When Renoir began to suffer from severe rheumatoid arthritis that would eventually leave him unable to walk and scarcely able to grasp a paintbrush, it was Gabrielle that would assist the artist by positioning the paintbrush between his crippled fingers. Born in Limoges, France in 1841, Renoir began his career as an apprentice to a painter of porcelain wares. He later moved to Paris at the age of 21, enrolling at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. It was here, while studying under Charles Gleyre, that Renoir attained a tremendous appreciation for the academic style of painting, a quality that would last throughout his career. This was also when he met Claude Monet and several other classmates, with whom he would later form the Impressionists. Working closely with Monet, Renoir began experimenting with the portrayal of light and its effect on his canvases. The youngest member of the Impressionist movement, an astute Renoir recognized how a subject was constantly changing due to the dynamic effects of light on color. Relying heavily upon his academic training that focused on composition, lines and descriptive details, Renoir distinguished himself among his contemporaries. His intuitive use of color and expansive brushstroke, along with acute attention to his subject, have placed him among the finest painters in history. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir from the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. Circa 1898 Canvas: 43 1/2" high x 35 1/2" wide Frame: 57 3/4" high x 49 1/4" wide Provenance: Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on January 25, 1899) J. Pereire Collection, France (1966) Sam Salz, New York (before 1981) Claus Virch, Paris French Compagny, Inc., New York Larry Silverstein, New York (circa January 1987) Le Clos de Sierne Gallery, Geneva Galerie Heyram, Paris (October 1987) Francis Gross M.S. Rau, New Orleans Literature: B. Schneider, Renoir, Berlin, 1957, p. 95 (illustrated in color, p. 83) M. Gauthier, Renoir, Paris, 1958, p. 83 (illustrated in color; erroneously dated '1916' and titled 'Woman in her toilet') F. Fosca, Renoir, L'homme et son obra, Paris, 1961, p. 280 (illustrated, p. 95; erroneously dated 'about 1890' and titled 'After the Bath...

Pierre Carrier-Belleuse 1851-1932 French Danseuse Signed “Pierre Carrier-Belleuse” (lower right) Pastel on canvas Strikingly elegant, this extraordinary pastel by French impressi...

Standing Female Nude Drypoint, c. 1910 Unsigned Estate authentication on verso (see photo) Estate authentication verso by Frances Frieseke Kilmer (Mrs. Kenton Kilmer, 1914-1998) (see...

Victor Abeloos 1881 – Brussels – 1965 Belgian Painter 'Girl at the Mirror' Signature: signed lower left and dated 1920 'V. Abeloos. 1920' Medium: oil on panel Dimensions: ima...

Signed and dated oil on canvas figure in interior painting by American impressionist painter Frederick Carl Frieseke. The piece depicts a young girl in a pink dress seated at a piano...

Painted circa 1955 by Victor di Gesu (American, 1914-1988) and stamped verso with Victor Di Gesu Estate stamp. Winner of the Prix Othon Friesz, Victor di Gesu first attended the Los...