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Lot Essay
Soutine first visited Cagnes-sur-Mer in the South of France in 1918 in the company of Amedeo Modigliani. The following year he visited Céret in the French Pyrenées near the Spanish border and, supported by his dealer Léopold Zborowski, lived and worked there for three years, occasionally returning to both Cagnes and Paris. The impact of this trip on his work was immediate and intense. The dark, brooding atmosphere of his portraits and still-lifes was countered by a new sense of colour and space. Soutine had probably not left Paris since his arrival there in 1913, and was thus encouraged and sponsored by Zborowski to journey through the French countryside in order to expand his influences, in particular removing the overbearing dominance of the Louvre's Old Master paintings in his work. 'Away from the museums and galleries of Paris - and it must always be remembered how deeply responsive Soutine was to his visual environment - Soutine took great strides forward... During the Céret period Soutine, in his utter reliance on spontaneous execution, with its leaning towards the abstract, most fully embodied the expressionist vision' (M. Tuchman et al, Chaim Soutine catalogue raisonné, London, 1913, pp. 19-20).
Painted circa 1918 on his first trip to the region, Maison au bord de mer is a rich and expressive example of Soutine's most successful landscapes from this important period in his creative development. The sense of movement and instability Soutine creates, emanating from both his swirling, tempestuous brushstrokes and his subtly varied palette, engenders a sense of claustrophobia that Soutine never managed to dispel from his art. At Cagnes, he adopted a more distant vantage point over the rambling rooftops and gnarled vegetation, often centering the composition around a vertiginous pathway that leads the viewer into the scene. Maurice Tuchman has written, ‘At Cagnes the palette becomes brighter and more luminous, due in part to the summer climate of the Midi. The mature Cagnes landscapes have an airy, buoyant, fairytale quality. More often than not, a large view of the town, seen from above, typifies the Cagnes style... The opening-up of the space is reiterated by the inclusion of a form that visually and literally (a road or steps) invites us to enter. This accessibility is diametrically opposed to the claustrophobic sensation generated by the Céret paintings of finding ourselves already inside the landscape. Greater atmospheric breadth and luminosity, a brighter palette of increasingly pastel-like colours, and a reduced sense of scale all contribute to this sense of expansion. They also introduce a note of playfulness, in contrast to the seriousness of Céret’ (in op. cit., p. 20).
Netter is a legendary name within the Montparnasse circle. With their roots in the east of France, the Netters, an industrial family, applied to their occupation as art patrons the same rigor for talent-spotting upon which their financial success was founded. This skill in selecting works for their collection allowed them to leave an indelible mark on the history of patronage within the period. This is particularly true of their pursuits during the interwar period, where their focus would be on the École de Paris, as testified by the remarkable exhibition held at the Pinacothèque de Paris in 2012. The Jonas Netter collection comprised an impressive selection of works, assembled by this enigmatic figure, whose name remained known only to a few close confidants. The exhibition unveiled several paintings never before seen by the public, such as works by André Derain, Moïse Kisling, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Maurice Utrillo, and Maurice de Vlaminck. Regrettably, history’s tribulations prevented the collection from staying intact. Fortunately, however, a few, including works by André Derain, Emile-Othon Friesz and Celso Lager were preserved by Jonas Netter’s heirs and are now presented here at Christie’s.
Painted circa 1918 on his first trip to the region, Maison au bord de mer is a rich and expressive example of Soutine's most successful landscapes from this important period in his creative development. The sense of movement and instability Soutine creates, emanating from both his swirling, tempestuous brushstrokes and his subtly varied palette, engenders a sense of claustrophobia that Soutine never managed to dispel from his art. At Cagnes, he adopted a more distant vantage point over the rambling rooftops and gnarled vegetation, often centering the composition around a vertiginous pathway that leads the viewer into the scene. Maurice Tuchman has written, ‘At Cagnes the palette becomes brighter and more luminous, due in part to the summer climate of the Midi. The mature Cagnes landscapes have an airy, buoyant, fairytale quality. More often than not, a large view of the town, seen from above, typifies the Cagnes style... The opening-up of the space is reiterated by the inclusion of a form that visually and literally (a road or steps) invites us to enter. This accessibility is diametrically opposed to the claustrophobic sensation generated by the Céret paintings of finding ourselves already inside the landscape. Greater atmospheric breadth and luminosity, a brighter palette of increasingly pastel-like colours, and a reduced sense of scale all contribute to this sense of expansion. They also introduce a note of playfulness, in contrast to the seriousness of Céret’ (in op. cit., p. 20).
Netter is a legendary name within the Montparnasse circle. With their roots in the east of France, the Netters, an industrial family, applied to their occupation as art patrons the same rigor for talent-spotting upon which their financial success was founded. This skill in selecting works for their collection allowed them to leave an indelible mark on the history of patronage within the period. This is particularly true of their pursuits during the interwar period, where their focus would be on the École de Paris, as testified by the remarkable exhibition held at the Pinacothèque de Paris in 2012. The Jonas Netter collection comprised an impressive selection of works, assembled by this enigmatic figure, whose name remained known only to a few close confidants. The exhibition unveiled several paintings never before seen by the public, such as works by André Derain, Moïse Kisling, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Maurice Utrillo, and Maurice de Vlaminck. Regrettably, history’s tribulations prevented the collection from staying intact. Fortunately, however, a few, including works by André Derain, Emile-Othon Friesz and Celso Lager were preserved by Jonas Netter’s heirs and are now presented here at Christie’s.