Lucien LEVY-DHURMER (1865-1953) The gust... - Lot 572 - Conan Belleville Hôtel d'Ainay

Lot 572
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Result : 145 000EUR
Lucien LEVY-DHURMER (1865-1953) The gust... - Lot 572 - Conan Belleville Hôtel d'Ainay
Lucien LEVY-DHURMER (1865-1953) The gust of wind Pastel on paper signed lower right, circa 1896 38 x 68 cm (sheet) 65 x 90 cm (with frame) Art Nouveau rosewood frame with a frieze of six bronze women holding hands in the upper part, the sides surmounted by a capital. Provenance: Private collection Expert : Expertises Tellier, Paris, Marc-Henri TELLIER, CEFA member Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer was born in Algiers in 1865. As a child, he was a brilliant pupil who received numerous awards during his apprenticeship. He then followed the teachings of Albert-Charles Wallet and Raphaël Collin, both students of Alexandre Cabanel, the paragon of French academic painting. He made his Salon debut in 1882 with a copy of La naissance de Vénus after Cabanel. From 1887 to 1895, he worked as a ceramist at Clément Massier's Manufacture de Faïences d'Art in Golfe-Juan, becoming the company's Director of Works of Art in 1892. During this time, he continued to paint and draw pastels. In 1896, he changed his name to Lévy-Dhurmer, adding part of his mother's surname, and took part in the Peintres de l'âme group exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris. Our pastel probably dates from that year, and belongs to the artist's Symbolist period. Symbolism was an artistic and literary movement that advocated a certain melancholy, an attraction to dreams and esotericism. The symbol of the femme fatale is a recurring representation for these artists. Lévy-Dhurmer dealt with the subject of the gust of wind on several occasions. Our work can be compared, among others, with the pastel in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest, which can be considered a preparatory study for ours. The final work, painted in oil on canvas, measuring 33 x 55 cm, was sold on June 9, 2011, lot 90, at Christie's in London, and came from the collection of M. & Mme François. It was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1896, under number 1261. A 33 x 54 cm watercolor and gouache on paper was sold at Artcurial in Paris on March 31, 2016, lot 177. All four versions known to date depict a young woman's face, seen in profile, with long, tousled hair: the personification of autumn. The gust of wind carries away the woman's face, whose hair merges with the dead maple leaves swirling around her, forming a decorative ornament. Her delicate profile seems to disappear in a fade that gives the whole composition a dreamlike, melancholy quality. Pastel was Lévy-Dhurmer's preferred technique. It's safe to say that he was one of the masters of his time, on a par with Degas, Albert Besnard, Léon Lhermitte and Charles Léandre. Between 1897 and 1924, he exhibited several times at the Société de Pastellistes Français, founded in 1885. The colors are limited to black, brown, yellow ochre, purplish and orange, with a few highlights of white in places, and this with great subtlety of harmony. Our pastel is undoubtedly one of the artist's masterpieces. It will be included in the catalog raisonné of Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer's work, currently being prepared by Marc-Henri Tellier. A certificate of authenticity will be issued to the buyer.
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