Paysanne aux tournesols

Details

John Peter Russell (1858-1930)
Paysanne aux tournesols
signed 'JOHN RUSSELL' (lower right)
oil on canvas
13 x 18½in. (32.5 x 46.5cm.)

Provenance

Jeanne Jouve, the artist's daughter.
Louis Jouve, and thence by descent to the previous owner, the artist's great-niece; sale, Christie's South Kensington, 1 Dec. 1988, lot 142 (£55,000 to the present owner).

Literature

A. Galbally, The Art of John Peter Russell, Melbourne, 1977, p.101, catalogue no. 73a (where size inverted), illustrated in colour pl. XX.

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

An early Belle-Île subject by Russell, dated by Galbally (The Art of John Peter Russell, Melbourne, 1977, p.101) to c.1888. 'Belle-Île also inspired Russell to paint the kind of peasant subjects he and van Gogh both admired. Simple lives, real, working-class characters -- the kind of subjects Millet's The Gleaners had made famous -- were regarded by some modern artists and their urbanised audience with intense nostalgia. Russell, van Gogh, Pissarro and Gauguin, each in his own way turned their back on city life to search for ideal, simpler ways of life to portray with integrity. ... The identification of the people with the land impressed Russell on Belle-Île: "Happy land ... Veritable Republic. ... People on all sides at work in the fields and valleys. Tis flat so the figures are important."' (U. Prunster, Belle-Île Monet, Russell & Matisse in Brittany, 2001, p.34)

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