Lot 111: Pierre Dubreuil , 1872-1944 'portrait of a painter'

gum print on laid paper, signed, titled, dated, and annotated 'Paris' and 'Photogram 1902' by the photographer in pencil and numbered and with reduction annotations in unidentified hands in pencil on the reverse, tipped to a double mount, matted, framed, 1902

measurements note 10 by 6 5/8 in. (25.4 by 16.7 cm.)

A. C. R. Carter, ed., Photograms of the Year, 1902 (London, 1902) (this print)

Christie's New York, 10 October 1991, Sale 7330, Lot 159Acquired by the present owner from the above

According to Pierre Dubreuil authority Tom Jacobson, this print of Portrait of a Painter, one of Dubreuil's earliest successes, is believed to be one of only two prints of the image extant. Jacobson observes that the notations on the reverse of the print offered here--the title in English in Dubreuil's hand, as well as other markings that Jacobson recognizes as salon judging marks--indicate that the present print is the actual one exhibited at the 1902 London Salon of Photography. Jacobson notes that the London salons were Dubreuil's premiere venue during this time, and that only his best prints were submitted to that competition. In his review of the 1902 salon, George Bernard Shaw wrote, 'M. Dubreuil indulges his whim for imitating portraits in oil with unfinished backgrounds to his heart's content, the portraits being so good that the folly must be indulged' (The Amateur Photographer, 'Some Criticisms of the Exhibitions,' 16 October 1902, quoted in Bernard Shaw on Photography, p. 94). Dubreuil was a master photographic technician, in addition to being one of the most imaginative photographers of his day. In Portrait of a Painter, Dubreuil used the malleability of the gum process to create a background that looks as if it had been painted with vigorous brushstrokes. Indeed, it is very likely that Dubreuil did use a brush on the print's surface during processing to direct the adherence of pigment. His Portrait of a Painter shows the archetypal artist at work: his materials in hand, his eyes intent upon his subject, and wholly consumed with his work. Jacobson points out that the image offered here is one of the most popular of a series of portraits with sketched backgrounds made by Dubreuil at the turn of the last century. The study appears in some contemporary publications with the alternative title 'Portrait du peintre David.' The present print was reproduced in 1902 in Photograms of the Year, the British annual of the year's best pictures. The other extant print of Portrait of a Painter is owned by the FotoMuseum Provincie Antwerpen, Belgium, and was originally part of the archives of the Association Belge de Photographie, an organization for whom Dubreuil served as president for a decade. It differs from the print offered here in the absence of the curved dark brushstroke at the extreme right of the image, touching the artist's shoulder. Athough Dubreuil exhibited widely during his lifetime, few examples of his work survive. On the eve of the Second World War, experiencing financial difficulties and concerned for the safety of his life's work, Dubreuil sold his negatives and many of his prints to the Gavaert photographic company in Belgium. The Gavaert factory was subsequently bombed during the war, and its holdings of Dubreuil's work were destroyed.