SAND George (1804-1876).

Set of 47 original DRAWINGS, some signed; various sizes; in 43 frames. Remarkable set on the art of George Sand draftswoman. The drawings presented here come from an album, a personal anthology prepared by Sand of her drawings and watercolors. Around 1875, George Sand established small collections of her drawings, intended for her adored granddaughters Aurore and Gabrielle. Others were constituted by her son Maurice. This one wanted to testify of a whole life to draw, of the romantic charm of the picturesque and rustic drawings with the lead of the young Aurore Dudevant, until the famous "dendrites" of his invention, announcing the abstraction. George Sand told, in Histoire de ma vie (IV, 12), how she wanted, around 1830, to earn her living by painting "flowers and ornamental birds, in microscopic compositions on snuffboxes and cigar cases", fans, tea boxes, etc.; she adds that she liked to make "portraits in pencil or watercolor in a few hours: I grasped the resemblance very well, I drew my little heads not badly"... Throughout her life, she never stopped drawing, and we have here a complete set of her art of drawing. In her old age, she practiced what she called "dendrites" or "crushing watercolors": she crushed colors that produced spots that she then interpreted in watercolor as landscapes. Several of her works have been shown in exhibitions at the Maison de Balzac (Dessins d'écrivains français du XIXe siècle, 1983), in Las Palmas (Sueños de tinta, 1993), at the Musée de la vie romantique (George Sand. Une nature d'artiste, 2004), at the IMEC, at the Museo Berardo in Lisbon and at the Musée communal d'Ixelles (Dessins d'écrivains, 2008), and at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt (Turner, Hugo, Moreau, Entdeckung der Abstraction, 2008). Several are reproduced in Christian Bernadac's book, George Sand. Dessins et aquarelles (Belfond, 1992). Group of houses near a bridge (in Gironde?), graphite heightened with brown ink (9 x 13 cm). [Maison de Balzac, no. 173; Bernadac no. 76]. View of the Port of Bordeaux, graphite, signed lower left "Aur. Dud.", and annotated on the right on the mount: "Bordeaux 16 mars". [Maison de Balzac, no. 172; Bernadac no. 70]. Église d'Auvergne, graphite, annotated lower right: "Auvergne" (16.5 x 11.6 cm). Italian lake shore, wash (5 x 8.5 cm). Tree, watercolor (9.5 x 5 cm). Landscape of the Pyrenees: water mill at the foot of the mountains, graphite, signed and dated lower right "A.D. 1826" (11 x 13 cm). [Maison de Balzac, no. 174; Bernadac no. 65]. Farm in the Pyrenees, brown ink wash (9.5 x 11.5 cm). [Maison de Balzac, no. 187]. Ruins, graphite, signed lower left "Aur. Dud.", and annotated lower right on the mount: "Ruines de Bretecourt, Seine et Oise. Aimée" (this is his friend Aimée Bazouin) (12.3 x 16.8 cm) [Maison de Balzac, no. 163; Bernadac no. 57]. Landscape of a lake with rocks and waterfall, graphite (8 x 11 cm). [Maison de Balzac, no. 171]. Farm, graphite (9 x 15.5 cm). Barnyard scene, graphite, signed lower right "A.D." (12 x 7 cm) [Maison de Balzac, no. 162; Bernadac, no. 46]. Landscape: wooden bridge over a river and small house, graphite (16 x 23 cm). Head of a woman from the 18th century [Mme Dupin de Francueil, grandmother of George Sand], watercolor, dated and captioned at the bottom "1846 after a snuffbox" (15 x 12.5 cm). [Bernadac n° 177]. 2 studies of plants, paper cut-outs, the 1st dated and annotated at the bottom left: "3 August 48 common thistle" (16 ?5 X 9 cm each). Wader and its young, watercolor (7.5 x 9 cm). Three birds, watercolor (6.7 x 4.5 cm). Bird and its young, watercolor (6.5 x 8.5 cm). Butterfly, watercolor gouache from a spot of color (2.8 x 4 cm). Bird, dendrite and feather (6.7 x 4.5 cm). 4 small character scenes in graphite silhouettes (ca. 1.5 x 4 cm, 2 x 5.5 cm, 3 x 7 cm and 2.5 x 10.5 cm). [Bernadac nos. 276-279]. Walking Scene: G. Sand under an umbrella, her two granddaughters, two dogs, and two figures including a Polichinelle, with castle in the background, in a drawn frame, graphite (3.3 x 4.4 cm). [Bernadac no. 274]. Lake landscape, with mountain and bridge, watercolor (10.8 x 13.5 cm). Thatched cottages, watercolor (7.8 x 11.4 cm). Blue Mountains by a Lake, watercolor (9.2 x 13.2 cm). Castle in ruins, dendrite and watercolor (9 x 12 cm). [Frankfurt, no. 6]. Castle with a grand staircase, dendrite and watercolor (18 x 10 cm). Château-fort with round tower, dendrite and watercolor (7.5 x 9.5 cm). [Bernadac n° 270]. Ruins, watercolor and dendrite (10.8 x 12.2 cm). Ruins, watercolor and dendrite (9.8 x 11.8 cm). Fortified city, Indian ink and wash (5.9 x 8.5 cm, accidents). Mountain lake, dendrite and watercolor (10.3 x 13 cm). Grey mountains, wash and watercolor (7,5 x 10,2 c