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Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from Didier Imbert Fine Arts and will be included in their forthcoming Loiseau catalogue raisonné.
By 1906, Gustav Loiseau enjoyed considerable financial success thanks to his contract signed with Paris art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in 1897. Such freedom allowed him to travel and explore various landscapes outside of Paris and the subject of the present work, the river Seine at Herblay, was a favoured theme to which he returned on many occasions. This small village, a short distance outside of Paris, inspired many of his peers, including Maximilien Luce and Paul Signac, whose Herblay. Temps gris. Saules sold in these rooms in June 2010. Called the 'historiographer of the Seine' by his biographers (D. Imbert in Gustav Loiseau, exh. cat., Paris, 1985, n.p.), Loiseau chooses a purely rural aspect of this part of the river. There is no reference to village life except for the presence of the bateau lavoir which is positioned in the centre foreground. A subject evocative of his Impressionist forebear, Alfred Sisley, the bateau lavoir was a floating wash-house where local women would pay a minimal sum to wash their clothes directly in the Seine.
Lavoir sur la Seine à Herblay shows Loiseau at the height of his artistic powers. The feathered brushstrokes with which he has described the clouds and the foliage lend the picture a lightness of touch that perfectly demonstrates his mastery of the Impressionist technique. Painted on a magnificent summer afternoon, the present work is a superb exploration of the relationship between land, water and sky. The bright blue sky, the lush greenery of the trees on the far bank and the bath-house are all reflected in the shimmering surface of the Seine, a celebration of vivid colour and pure and intense light. His preoccupation with texture is also very evident in the present painting where he has built up layer upon layer of paint on the surface using deft highlights of pale pinks and yellow to exquisitely capture the effects of the light on this tranquil summer scene.
By 1906, Gustav Loiseau enjoyed considerable financial success thanks to his contract signed with Paris art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in 1897. Such freedom allowed him to travel and explore various landscapes outside of Paris and the subject of the present work, the river Seine at Herblay, was a favoured theme to which he returned on many occasions. This small village, a short distance outside of Paris, inspired many of his peers, including Maximilien Luce and Paul Signac, whose Herblay. Temps gris. Saules sold in these rooms in June 2010. Called the 'historiographer of the Seine' by his biographers (D. Imbert in Gustav Loiseau, exh. cat., Paris, 1985, n.p.), Loiseau chooses a purely rural aspect of this part of the river. There is no reference to village life except for the presence of the bateau lavoir which is positioned in the centre foreground. A subject evocative of his Impressionist forebear, Alfred Sisley, the bateau lavoir was a floating wash-house where local women would pay a minimal sum to wash their clothes directly in the Seine.
Lavoir sur la Seine à Herblay shows Loiseau at the height of his artistic powers. The feathered brushstrokes with which he has described the clouds and the foliage lend the picture a lightness of touch that perfectly demonstrates his mastery of the Impressionist technique. Painted on a magnificent summer afternoon, the present work is a superb exploration of the relationship between land, water and sky. The bright blue sky, the lush greenery of the trees on the far bank and the bath-house are all reflected in the shimmering surface of the Seine, a celebration of vivid colour and pure and intense light. His preoccupation with texture is also very evident in the present painting where he has built up layer upon layer of paint on the surface using deft highlights of pale pinks and yellow to exquisitely capture the effects of the light on this tranquil summer scene.