3033 - FERDINAND HODLER

FERDINAND HODLER (Bern 1853–1918 Geneva) Valentine Godé-Darel, Ill; Half-Figure. 1914. Pencil on paper. Dated lower right: Dec. 23, 1914. 31 × 46.5 cm. Provenance: - Estate of Berthe Hodler, Geneva (verso with estate stamp). - Estate auction of Berthe Hodler, Geneva, April 14, 1958, lot 26 (verso with stamp). - Private collection, Mr. P. Magnenat, Lausanne. - Jura Brüschweiler Collection, Geneva. - Passed down to the current owners. Exhibited: - Geneva 1963, Ferdinand Hodler. Dessins, Musée Rath, January 18–February 17, 1963, no. 200 (label on the reverse). - Tokyo and Kyoto 1975, “Exposition Ferdinand Hodler,” National Museum of Western Art, April 5–May 25, 1975; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, June 7–July 20, 1975, no. 75 (label on the reverse). - Zurich, St. Gallen, Munich, and Bern 1976/77, A Painter Facing Love and Death: Ferdinand Hodler and Valentine Godé-Darel—A Cycle of Works, 1908–1915, Kunsthaus Zürich, April 9–May 23, 1976; Kunstverein St. Gallen, June 5–July 11, 1976; Villa Stuck, July 23–October 10, 1976; Kunstmuseum Bern, October 23, 1976–January 2, 1977, no. 131 (verso with label). - Berlin, Paris, and Zurich 1983, Ferdinand Hodler, Nationalgalerie Berlin, March 2–April 24, 1983; Musée du Petit Palais, May 11–July 24, 1983; Kunsthaus Zürich, August 19–October 23, 1983, no. 154 (verso with label). Bibliography: - Exhibition catalog *Ferdinand Hodler. Dessins*, Geneva 1963, no. 200. - Exhibition catalog *Exposition Ferdinand Hodler*, Tokyo and Kyoto 1975, no. 75. - Exhibition catalog *A Painter Facing Love and Death: Ferdinand Hodler and Valentine Godé-Darel. A Cycle of Works, 1908–1915*, Zurich, St. Gallen, Munich, and Bern 1976/77, no. 131. - Exhibition catalog *Ferdinand Hodler*, Berlin, Paris, and Zurich 1983, p. 482, no. 154 (ill. p. 382). Valentine Godé-Darel and Ferdinand Hodler first met in 1908. Their meeting marked the beginning of a passionate relationship, from which their daughter Paulette was born on October 13, 1913. By then, Valentine was already seriously ill with cancer. Hodler’s depictions of his gravely ill companion Valentine rank among the most moving and significant groups of works in his oeuvre. In this unique and unsparingly honest series of paintings, drawings, and small sketches, Hodler initially documented her motherhood and illness and, from November 1914 until her death on January 25, 1915, the final weeks of her life. Often dated to the exact day, this sequence of images stands as one of the most compelling explorations of illness, transience, and death in the history of European art. Through profound empathy and close observation, the portrayal of his beloved becomes the setting for an intensely personal yet universal confrontation with the human condition. The present drawing, dated December 23, 1914, depicts Valentine lying in bed with her eyes closed and her head tilted back. While Hodler carefully renders her face with vigorous hatching, he outlines her body, the blanket, and the pillows with a few sweeping lines. “In drawings such as this, the artist succeeds in finding beauty even in physical decline and emotional suffering, and in setting against death something capable of enduring beyond it for all time” (Jura Brüschweiler, 1997; translated from the German). The importance of the drawing is also reflected in its provenance and exhibition history. From the estate of Hodler’s wife Berthe, it later entered the distinguished collection of Jura Brüschweiler. Exhibited at the Musée Rath in Geneva as early as 1963, it was included in the landmark 1976–77 exhibition “Ein Maler vor Liebe und Tod,” which offered the first comprehensive assessment of this exceptional cycle of works. The drawing was also shown in the major Hodler retrospective held in Berlin, Paris, and Zurich in 1983.