3040 - EDOUARD VALLET

EDOUARD VALLET (Geneva 1876–1929 Cressy) Pensierosa. 1927. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right: ED. VAllET 1927. 83.5 × 72 cm. Provenance: - Galerie Max G. Bollag, Zurich. - Private collection, Wallisellen. - Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above. Exhibited: - Winterthur, Schaffhausen, Chur, Lucerne, Geneva and Bern 1929, Turnusausstellung des Schweizerischen Kunstvereins, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 28 April–20 May 1929; Museum zu Allerheiligen, 26 May–9 June 1929; Bündner Kunstmuseum, 23 June–7 July 1929; Kunstmuseum Luzern, 21 July–18 August 1929; Musée Rath, 31 August–22 September 1929; Kunsthalle Bern, 6 October–3 November 1929, no. 149, as ‘Pensierosa’. - Geneva 1930, Exposition municipale des Beaux-Arts, Musée Rath, 14 June–17 August 1930, no. 140, as ‘Pensierosa’. - Basel 1931, Gedächtnis-Ausstellung Edouard Vallet, Kunsthalle Basel, 7–29 March 1931, no. 77, as ‘Pensierosa’. - Zurich 1942, Sonder-Ausstellung Edouard Vallet, Galerie Beaux-Arts, 9 June–3 July 1942, no. 18, as ‘Pensierosa’. - Geneva 1942, 1er Salon des Beaux-Arts, Hôtel de Russie, 25 September–25 October 1942, no. 26, as ‘Pensierosa’. Literature: - Lucienne Florentine: ‘L’exposition Edouard Vallet’, in: L’Illustré, no. 46, 1929 (ill.). - Marie Pichereau-Vallet: Edouard Vallet. Peintre et graveur 1876–1929, Lausanne 1934 (ill.). - Bernard Wyder: Trois essais sur l’Art en Valais, Lausanne 1984, p. 23 (ill.). - Bernard Wyder and Jacques Dominique Rouiller: Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint d’Edouard Vallet, Geneva 2006, p. 553, no. 644 (ill. p. 502). ‘Pensierosa’ reflects Édouard Vallet’s sustained engagement with the rural population of the Valais. An attentive observer of country life, he portrayed the people of the region with great sensitivity. The woman, dressed in traditional Valais costume, sits leaning forward, her head resting on one hand, absorbed in thought. Her pose conveys a sense of reflection and introspection. The powerful presence of the figure, firmly anchored within the pictorial space, lends the composition a particular dignity. Without pathos or idealisation, Vallet depicts the woman in a pose that appears both natural and expressive. The muted tones of the background contrast with the bright colours of her skirt, whose rhythmically arranged stripes and lively accents animate the composition. Combining expressive colour, clearly defined forms and a monumental treatment of the figure, Vallet imbues this everyday scene with striking intensity.