319 - Claude-Emile SCHUFFENECKER (1851–1934)

Claude-Emile SCHUFFENECKER (1851–1934) Nude from Behind, Standing (or Female Torso, Viewed from Behind, or Woman in a Three-Quarter Bust), 1884 Oil on canvas, signed and dated in the upper left corner “E. SCHUFFENECKER 1884”; signature of Jeanne Schuffenecker “J. Schuffenecker” in blue on the back of the canvas; no. 234 64 x 53 cm (viewing dimensions) (Damage, holes, broken stretcher bar, needs cleaning) Fragmentary label from Winckel & Magnussen in Copenhagen on the stretcher Reproduced in: Jill-Elyse Grossvogel, Claude-Emile Schuffenecker, Catalogue Raisonné I, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, San Francisco, 2000, no. 356, p. 136 Provenance: - Dr. Gachet, Auvers-sur-Oise - Auction, Me Baron & Ribeyre, February 1996 (According to the catalogue raisonné) Exhibitions: - Paris, Salon des Indépendants, 1885 - Paris, 8th Impressionist Exhibition, 1886 - Paris, January–March 1934, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, “Gauguin and His Friends, the Pont-Aven School, and the Académie Julian,” no. 106 or 103, “C.E. Schuffenecker Collection” - Copenhagen, June–July 1956, Winkel & Magnussen, “Gauguin and His Friends: An Exhibition of the Painters Who Formed the Pont-Aven School,” no. 116 (study from life) Bibliography: Monneret, 1979, pp. 231–232, Deverin, *Beaux-Arts*, August 10, 1934 (reproduced) Grossvogel, 1980, p. 24 Porro, 1992, p. 188 Claude-Emile Schuffenecker, “good old Schuff,” has gone down in history as Gauguin’s staunch friend. Initially an Impressionist, his art would evolve toward a form of Symbolism. The year 1884, the date of our painting, is significant because it marks the founding of the Salon des Indépendants, featuring Signac, Seurat, Redon, Cross, and others. This marked the beginning of Schuffenecker’s Neo-Impressionist period, which lasted until 1890. At the end of that same year, in December, his son Paul Gabriel was born; he was named after Gauguin, who served as his godfather.