Lot 121: CHARLES LAVAL

CHARLES LAVAL
1862-1894
paysage de la martinique
oil on canvas
92 by 71 cm., 36 1/4 by 28 in.
Painted in Martinique in 1887.
Provenance
Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Fabiani, Paris (1939-1945)
Meissner Collection, Switzerland
Dr. Kisler, Switzerland
Hugo Perls, New York (acquired from the above in the early 1950s)
Monica Perls, New York (wife of the above)
Thence by descent to the present owner
Exhibited
(possibly) Paris, Cafe Volpini, 1889, no. 89
Vienna, Osterreichische Galerie im Oberen Belvedere, Paul Gauguin 1848-1903, 1960, no. 10
Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Cent oeuvres de Gauguin, 1960, no. 28, illustrated in the catalogue
Literature
Raymond Nacenta, Gauguin, Paris, 1960, pl. 5, illustrated in colour
Alfred Karasek-Langer, Paul Gauguin, Leipzig, 1963, no. 17
Nina S. Zamfirescu, Gauguin, London, 1973, no. 9, illustrated in colour
Karen Kristine Rechnitzer Pope, Gauguin and Martinique, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, 1981, pp. 104-111, 231-240 (mentioned)
Laval met Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven in 1886, and in the following year the two artists travelled together to Martinique, where they painted alongside each other, often depicting the same views. Laval was greatly influenced by Gauguin's work, and adopted a style reminiscent of Gauguin's. In fact, the present work was for a long time considered to be by Paul Gauguin, and was included in several exhibitions and illustrated in books as such. Based primarily on stylistic grounds and Gauguin's letters to his friends and fellow artists, scholars have attributed Paysage de la Martinique (the present work) and Paysage panoramique (Georges Wildenstein, Paul Gauguin, Paris, 1964, vol. I, no. 225) to Laval. In her doctoral thesis Gauguin and Martinique, Karen Kristine Rechnitzer Pope discusses and confirms this attribution.
This tropical landscape, exemplary of Laval's plein-air style, depicts a view of the Bay of Saint-Pierre, where the artists spent most of their time on Martinique. The rich vegetation is dominated by two elegant, slender palm trees, and the only element suggestive of human presence is the narrow path leading towards the sea.