Lot 48: Bretons se promenant

CHARLES LAVAL (1862-1894) Bretons se promenant signé 'C Laval' (en bas à droite) gouache et aquarelle sur papier fort 38.9 x 59 cm. (15¼ x 23¼ in.) Exécuté vers 1889-90

College Park, University of Maryland Art Gallery; Louisville, J.B. Speed Art Museum; et Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Museum of Art, From Delacroix to Cézanne: French Watercolor Landscapes of the Nineteenth Century, janvier-mai 1978, no. 107.

Arthur Altschul, New York.
Vente, Sotheby's, New York, 17 novembre 1998, lot 276.
Acquis au cours de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel.

COLLECTION PRIVEE EUROPEENNE

" f " : In addition to the regular Buyer's Premium, a commission of 5.5% (i.e. 6.578% inclusive of V. A. T.) will be charged to the Buyer. It will be refunded to the Buyer upon proof of export of the lot outside the European Union within the legal time limit.
Charles Laval étudie dans l'atelier du grand académique Léon Bonnat, puis dans celui du grand peintre d'histoire Fernand Cormon. C'est là que se retrouvent de nombreux artistes avant-gardistes, tels que Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, Bernard, Anquetin et Puigaudeau. Avec ce dernier, Laval se rend pour la première fois en 1886 à Pont-Aven où il rencontre Gauguin. Les deux artistes deviennent amis, peignent, vivent et partent même ensemble à la Martinique.

A son retour en France, Laval se lie également à van Gogh. Bretons se promenant, exécuté vers 1889-90 lors du second séjour de Laval à Pont-Aven, témoigne de l'influence du maître hollandais tant par les couleurs vives employées que par la touche rapide et ondulée. Laval décède fort jeune de la tuberculose, laissant derrière lui peu d'oeuvres, dont la présente gouache qui figure parmi ses chefs-d'oeuvre.

Charles Laval studied in the studio of the great academic artist Léon Bonnat and with the history painter Fernand Cormon. Many artists of the avant-garde movement met at their ateliers, including Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, Bernard, Anquetin and Puigaudeau, with whom Laval went to Pont-Aven for the first time in 1889. It was on this trip that Laval met Gauguin for the first time, and the two men became fast friends, painting together and rooming together for a short time. They even travelled to Martinique together on Gauguin's now famous first voyage to the South Seas.

It was upon Laval's return to France that he met van Gogh, who would also have a decisive influence on the painter's stylistic evolution. Executed during his second stay in Pont-Aven, Bretons se promenant, with its vivid colours and lively brushstroke, is a prime example of the influence of the Dutch master on Laval. Having been stricken by tuberculosis, Laval died very young, leaving behind a very limited body of work, of which the present gouache is one of the finest examples.

'STROLLING BRETONS'; SIGNED LOWER RIGHT; GOUACHE AND WATERCOLOUR ON CARD.