Maurice DENIS (Granville 1870 - Paris 1943) Perros-Guirec, Jesus with Martha and…
Description

Maurice DENIS (Granville 1870 - Paris 1943)

Perros-Guirec, Jesus with Martha and Mary, 1917 Original oil on canvas 102 x 157 cm Signed and dated lower left Maurice Denis 1917 Old label on stretcher: Première Exposition de collectionneurs au profit de la Société des amis du Luxembourg ..... Provenance Charles Pacquement, acquired at the expensive Druet exhibition in 1918 (Carnet des Dons et Ventes de l'artiste (CDV) n°983) By descent, remained in the Pacquement family Sale Palais Galliera, December 7, 1976, Paris, lot 16 of the sale catalog Private collection Sale by Maître Paul Renaud, Hôtel Drouot, March 17, 2000 Private collection, Paris Sale Beaussant Lefevre, June 10, 2015, lot 118 Acquired at this sale by the current owner Exhibition : Galerie Druet, "Maurice Denis", Paris, 1918, no. 2 Twelfth Exhibition of the Salon d'Automne, Paris, November 1 - December 10, 1919, n°480 Première Exposition des Collectionneurs au profit de la Société des amis du Luxembourg, Paris, March-April 1924, n°185 (collection Ch. Pacquement) Musée des Arts Décoratifs, "Maurice Denis 1888-1924", Paris, April 11-May 11, 1924, no. 259 (with date 1918) Musée d'Art Moderne, "Maurice Denis", Paris, 1945, no. 122 Bibliography: Suzanne Barazzetti, Maurice Denis, Paris, Grasset éditeur, 1945, page 289 (with the erroneous mention of an exhibition at Druet in 1927) Will appear in the catalog raisonné of Maurice Denis' work, currently being prepared by Claire Denis and Fabienne Stahl In 1890, Maurice Denis published a note in the magazine "Art et critique", in which he defined the term "neo-traditionism". It was a new ism, the marker of an artistic and aesthetic trend that was taking shape between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. The artist sought to define Symbolism, then associated with the Nabis, as a movement rejecting academic art and Impressionism. The artist writes: "I've known young people who engaged in tiring gymnastics of the optic nerves to see trompe-l'œil [...]: and they succeeded, I know. Mr. Signac will prove to you through impeccable science that his chromatic perceptions are of the utmost necessity. And M. Bouguereau, if his studio corrections are sincere, is intimately convinced that he is copying "nature". [...] The irrational admiration of old paintings (in which, since they must be admired, conscientious renderings of "nature" are sought) has certainly deformed the eye of the School's masters. [...] Has anyone noticed that this indefinable "nature" is perpetually changing, that it is not the same at the '90 Salon as it was at the salons of thirty years ago, and that there is a "nature" à la mode - a changing fantasy like dresses and hats? " On the one hand, Maurice Denis criticizes the quest for antique mimesis. On the other, he wished to "commit himself to reacting against the excesses of analysis and the dangerous prestiges born of the superstition of atmospheric phenomena" (Paul Jamot, Maurice Denis, Plon, Paris, 1945, p. 5.). In this, the artist distanced himself from the artistic contributions of Impressionism. His work is thus marked by classical subjects, such as religious and secular themes, family scenes, landscapes, the occurrence of Italy and Brittany. His paintings are not dictated by the imitation of nature, but blend a subjective reality imbued with a certain melancholy. During the inter-war years, Maurice Denis was a recognized artist and decorator, illustrating on several occasions the statements he had made years earlier. The work we present, painted in 1917, is no exception to this order, making it representative of Maurice Denis' style. "When he discovered his vocation as an artist at the age of fifteen, Maurice Denis wrote in his diary on May 15, 1885: "I must become a Christian painter so that I can celebrate all the miracles of Christianity, I feel that this is what I must do". In his mind, there was a powerful link between Christianity and painting. What he wanted above all was to reinvent a Christian art for his time, combining his artistic development with his spiritual journey as a believer. In this work, Maurice Denis tackles a subject he was particularly fond of: Jesus' encounter with Martha and Mary, as recorded in St. Luke (10: 38-42). He chose not to depict a conversation, but a scene of a sacred meal, very similar to another depicted in one of his paintings, Les Pèlerins d'Emmaüs (circa 1896, private collection). The frame corresponds to the balcony of the "Silencio", a house in Brittany overlooking the beach at Perros-Guirec that the artist had bought in 1908. In his usual manner, Den

25 
Go to lot
<
>

Maurice DENIS (Granville 1870 - Paris 1943)

Estimate 60 000 - 80 000 EUR

* Not including buyer’s premium.
Please read the conditions of sale for more information.

Sale fees: 33 %

Auction is over for this lot. See the results