Landscape in Le Pouldu
Framed: 46 1/4 x 37 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches (117.48 x 94.62 x 5.72 cm)
- 127
A Bountiful Decade: Selected
Acquisitions 1977-1987, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October
14-December 6, 1987, no.
43, as Landscape (Paysan avec un chien
près d’une barrière).
In this vibrantly colored landscape of a French peasant out with his dog, Paul Gauguin employed the tropical palette he developed while living in Tahiti from 1891 to 1893. Typical of his later production, Gauguin painted on a burlap-like fabric whose coarse and uneven texture was a deliberate component of the picture’s overall appearance. Gauguin intended the surface to convey the character of ancient wall murals. Commercially unsuccessful in Paris, Gauguin returned to Polynesia in 1895 and remained there the rest of his life.
Consigned by the artist to Georges Chaudet (1870-1899), Paris, by June 1895-no later than September 1899 [1];
Purchased from Georges Chaudet by Ambroise Vollard, Paris, Stockbook A, no. 3958, as paysage; au premier plan un homme debout devant une barrière, by September 1899-1900 [2];
Exchanged between Ambroise Vollard and Bernheim-Jeune et Cie, Paris, April 3, 1900 [3];
Auguste Pellerin (1853-1929), Paris, by May 6, 1907;
Exchanged between Auguste Pellerin and Ambroise Vollard, Paris, May 6, 1907 [4];
Acquired from Ambroise Vollard by Gabriel Frizeau (1870-1938), Bordeaux, December 21, 1908 at the earliest [5];
Possibly purchased from Gabriel Frizeau, either through André Lhote, by Galerie Vildrac, Paris, by June 26, 1913, or through Ary Leblond, by Jos Hessel, 26, rue la Boetié, Paris, by April 1, 1921 [6];
Juliette (née Pellerin, 1893-1987) Lecomte, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, by June 8, 1956;
Purchased from her sale, Important Ensemble de Tableaux Modernes: quatre peintures et trois aquarelles par Paul Cézanne; Œuvres de Boudin, Bonnard, Corot, Degas, Dufy, Gauguin, Jongkind, Monet, Renoir, Segonzac, Toulouse-Lautrec, Utrillo, Vuillard, provenant pour la plupart d’une grande collection parisienne, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, June 8, 1956, lot 10, as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière [7];
With Acquavella Galleries, New York [8];
Elinor Winifred Hill Ingersoll (née Dorrance, 1907-1977), Newport, RI, by January 9, 1977 [9];
With Acquavella Galleries, New York, and E. V. Thaw and Co., New York, by August 12, 1977 [10];
Purchased from E. V. Thaw and Co. through the generosity of an anonymous donor by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1977.
NOTES:
[1] Georges Chaudet was an artist whom Gauguin met in Pont-Aven in the summer of 1894. When Gauguin left France for the last time to go to Tahiti in June 1895, he left his atelier in Chaudet’s control with the instruction to try and sell the paintings. Chaudet’s name is listed in Vollard Stockbook A, but the date that he sold Landscape to Vollard is unclear. Vollard Stockbook A covers the period from 1899-April 1904. Since Chaudet died in September 1899 at the age of 29, Vollard had Landscape by then at the latest. However, Chaudet regularly consigned works to Vollard between 1895 and his death in 1899.
[2] A brown paper label on the center of the stretcher shows the number “395[8]” in thick black typewriter ink. This is an Ambroise Vollard label, as can also be seen on the stretcher of NAMA’s Paul Cézanne, Man with a Pipe (2015.13.6).
[3] See no. 3958, paysage; au premier plan un homme debout devant une barrière, Vollard Stockbook A (1899-April 1904), The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
[4] Auguste Pellerin’s agenda for May 6, 1907 notes that Pellerin exchanged Gauguin’s Landscape along with two other paintings for a Cézanne from Ambroise Vollard. See email from Moritz de Chaisemartin to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, December 13, 2018. The Cézanne Pellerin received in return appears to be La Femme à l’hermine, d’après le Greco (1885-86) (Feilchenfeldt 472), which becomes part of the Pellerin collection on May 6, 1907.See Vollard’s Agenda for May 6-7, 1907, Fonds Vollard B.M.N MS421 [5,2], 77, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, where the picture is listed as “un paysage.”
[5] See letter from Gabriel Frizeau, Bordeaux, to Ary ([Aimé Merlo], 1880-1958) and Marius ([Georges Athénas], 1887-1953) Leblond, Paris, December 13, 1908, cited in Jean-François Moueix, “Un Amateur d’Art Éclairé à Bordeaux: Gabriel Frizeau, 1870-1938,” vol. 1 (PhD diss., Université de Bordeaux, 1969), 450-51. Eight days after the letter is sent, Frizeau acquires several paintings from Vollard. Denise Delouche believes the Brittany landscape Frizeau is discussing in this letter is Ferme en Bretagne (1889, W. 372, Bührle private collection, Zurich). Her assessment is based on a sketch of that painting made by André Lhote in the margin of a November 11, 1908 letter to Frizeau after he saw the work at Vollard’s gallery. See Denise Delouche, Gauguin et la Bretagne (Rennes, France: Éditions Apogée, 1996), 118. It is not proven that Ferme en Bretagne was the work sent in Vollard’s shipment the following month, and no other source identifies this painting as having been in Frizeau’s collection. Moueix places NAMA’s picture in the Frizeau collection in 1908 at the earliest.
[6] A letter from Gabriel Frizeau to André Lhote (1885-1962) dated June 26, 1913 states that two of his Gauguin’s are officially with the dealer Léon Marseille of Galerie Vildrac. One of these is likely Femme tahitienne, which Marseille sold to the Danish collector Wilhelm Hansen and is now in the Ordrupgaard collection. It is unclear what the other painting is. On the other hand, Claire Frêches-Thory, Musée d’Orsay, believes that NAMA’s picture is cited in a letter Gabriel Frizeau sent to André Lhote on December 21, 1916 where he mentions that Jos Hessel approached him about buying a “paysage de Bretagne de 1894.” Frizeau refused this offer in 1916. See Rencontres Gauguin à Tahiti: Actes du Colloque, 20 et 21 Juin 1989 (Papeete, Tahiti: Aurea, [1989]), 56. However, Moueix’s dissertation lists two separate Brittany scenes from 1894 in Frizeau’s collection. The 1916 letter says Hessel was interested in the 1894 landscape “between the two windows.” There are no specifics on which landscape that is. By April 1, 1921, Frizeau has sold the last of his Gauguin’s through Jos Hessel. Neither study is conclusive as to when NAMA’s painting was sold.
[7] The private collector is identified only as “Mme X” in the Galerie Charpentier auction catalogue, but documents at the Musée d’Orsay confirm that Mme. X is Juliette Lecomte. See email from Estelle Bégué, Musée d’Orsay, to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, October 21, 2018, NAMA curatorial files.
[8] See invoice from E. V. Thaw and Co., August 12, 1977, NAMA curatorial files for mention of Acquavella. NAMA is currently working to confirm dates for Acquavella’s ownership of the painting. See email from Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, to Acquavella Galleries, New York, October 29, 2018, NAMA curatorial files.
[9] Elinor Dorrance’s first husband, Nathaniel Peter Hill, passed away on August 10, 1965. She married Stuart Howe Ingersoll on June 14, 1968. She was a frequent customer of Acquavella Galleries and may have bought the painting from them.
[10] See invoice from E. V. Thaw and Co., August 12, 1977, NAMA curatorial files. Landscape was likely consigned to Acquavella Galleries and E. V. Thaw and Co. jointly by the estate of Elinor Hill Ingersoll.
Possibly Victor Segalen, ed., Lettres de Paul Gauguin à Georges-Daniel de Monfreid (Paris: Éditions Georges Crès et Cie, 1918), 156-57, as Pont-Aven 1894.
“Forthcoming Sales,” Burlington Magazine 98, no. 638 (May 1956): 182.
Art-Price Annual (1955-1956), vol. 11, New Series: July 1st 1955 to June 30th 1956 (London: Art and Technology Press, 1956), 229, as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Important Ensemble de Tableaux Modernes: quatre peintures et trois aquarelles par Paul Cézanne; Œuvres de Boudin, Bonnard, Corot, Degas, Dufy, Gauguin, Jongkind, Monet, Renoir, Segonzac, Toulouse-Lautrec, Utrillo, Vuillard, provenant pour la plupart d’une grande collection parisienne (Paris: Galerie Charpentier, June 8, 1956), unpaginated, (repro.), as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Art Prices Current: A Record of Sale Prices at the Principal London, Continental and American Auction Rooms, vol. 33, August 1955 to July 1956; Parts A and B: Paintings, Drawings and Miniatures, Engravings and Prints with Indexes to the Artists, Engravers and Collectors (London: Art Trade Press, 1957), A145, A191, as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Henri Perruchot, La Vie de Gauguin (Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1961), 400, 407, as Un Paysan et son Chien près d’une barrière.
Georges Boudaille, Gauguin (New York: Tudor, 1964), 183, 270, (repro.), as Peasant and His Dog.
Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin, vol. 1, Catalogue (Paris: Les Beaux-Arts, 1964), no. 522, pp. 213-14, 216, 280, (repro.), as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Jean-François Moueix, “Un Amateur d’Art Éclairé à Bordeaux: Gabriel Frizeau, 1870-1938,” vol. 1 (PhD diss., Université de Bordeaux, 1969), xxxvii, 306-07, 312, 368, 416, 429-30, 450-53, (repro.), as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, L’opera completa di Gauguin (Milan: Rizzoli, 1972), no. 343, pp. 107, 119, (repro.), erroneously as Dramma al Villaggio.
Richard S. Field, Paul Gauguin: Monotypes, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973), 100, as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, La obra pictórica completa de Gauguin (Barcelona: Noguer, 1973), no. 343, pp. 107, 118, (repro.), as Drama en la aldea.
Pierre Leprohon, Paul Gauguin (Paris: Grund, 1975), 400.
Donald Hoffman, “Secret Donor Gives Nelson Gallery Two Major Works of Art, ” Kansas City Star 98, no. 50 (November 6, 1977): 6, 9, 11, 13, as Peasant and His Dog Near the Fence.
“La Vie des arts,” L’Œil, nos. 270-71 (January-February 1978): 87, (repro.), as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Jean-François Moueix, “La Rencontre de Gabriel Frizeau,” in “Jacques Rivière, ses amis bordelais et la vie intellectuelle de son temps,” special issue, Bulletin des Amis de Jacques Rivière et d’Alain-Fournier, no. 11 (1978): 16.
Ralph T. Coe, The Kenneth and Helen Spencer Art Reference Library: Given to Complement the Nelson Gallery Collections 1962 (Independence, MO: Graham Graphics, 1978), unpaginated, as Paysan et Son Chien pres [sic] d’une Barriere [sic].
Robert H. Terte, “The Phenomenal Nelson Gallery,” Antiques World 1, no. 3 (January 1979): 46.
Possibly St.-John Perse, Letters, trans. and ed. Arthur J. Knodel (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979), 158n5, 163.
Elda Fezzi, tout gauguin, vol. 2, 1890-1903, trans. Simone Darses (1980; Paris: Flammarion, 1982), 52-53, (repro.), as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Donald Hoffman, “The fine art of contributing to the gallery: Benefactors’ gifts help keep inflation at bay at the Nelson,” Kansas City Star 101, no. 225 (June 7, 1981): 1F.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, Tout l’œuvre peint de Gauguin, trans. Simone Darses (Paris: Flammarion, 1981), no. 343, pp. 107, 119, (repro.), as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Denise Delouche, ed., Pont-Aven et ses peintres à propos d’un centenaire (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2, l’Institut Culturel de Bretagne, 1986), 54, 78n8.
“Museums to Sports, KC Has It All,” American Water Works Association Journal 79, no. 4 (April 1987): 133.
Roger Ward, ed., A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977-1987, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1987), 13, 106-107, 261, (repro.), as Landscape (Paysan avec un chien près d’une barrière).
Robert Coustet and Jean-François Moueix, “Solitude et clairvoyance d’un collectionneur bordelaise, Gabriel Frizeau (1870-1938) d’après des correspondances inédites,” Gazette des beaux-arts 111, nos. 1432-1433 (May-June 1988): 333, as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Ellen R. Goheen, The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), 14.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, La obra pictórica completa de Gauguin (Barcelona: Planeta, 1988), no. 343, pp. 107, 118, (repro.), as Drama en la aldea.
David Lewis, “Museum Impressions,” Carnegie Magazine 59, no. 12 (November-December 1989): 17.
Rencontres Gauguin à Tahiti: Actes du Colloque, 20 et 21 Juin 1989 (Papeete, Tahiti: Aurea, [1989]), 51, 53, 56, as Le paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Michael Churchman and Scott Erbes, High Ideals and Aspirations: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1933-1993 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 99, (repro.), as Landscape.
Bernard Denvir, The Chronicle of Impressionism: An Intimate Diary of the Lives and World of the Great Artists (London: Thames and Hudson, 1993), 279.
David Jaffin, Unerfüllte Sehnsucht: Betrachtungen zu Gemälden von Vincent van Gogh und Paul Gauguin (Lahr, Germany: Verlag der St.-Johannis-Druckerei, 1993), 22-23, (repro.), as Bauer und sein Hund am Zaun.
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993), 212, (repro.), as Landscape.
Catherine Puget, Le cercle de Gauguin en Bretagne: 1894, exh. cat. ([Pont-Aven]: Musée de Pont-Aven, [1994]), 4, as Paysan et son chien près d’une barrière.
Joan Minguet, Gauguin: His Life and Complete Works (Stamford, CT: Longmeadow Press, 1995), 114, (repro.), as Peasant with His Dog Near a Gate.
“Music Teachers National Association National Convention, March 23-27, 1996, Kansas City, Missouri,” American Music Teacher 45, no. 4 (February-March 1996): 23.
Denise Delouche, Gauguin et la Bretagne (Rennes, France: Éditions Apogée, 1996), 118, as Le paysan et son chien.
Possibly Pierre Savin, Gabriel Frizeau, 1870-1938: Viticulteur girondin, amateur d’art (Biarritz, France: J. et D. Éditions, 1996), 151.
Possibly Victor Martin-Schmets, ed., Jacques Rivière-Gabriel Frizeau: Correspondance (Biarritz, France: Éditions Atlantica, 1998), 40, 77, 112n2.
Ziva Amishai-Maisels et al., Paul Gauguin: Von der Bretagne nach Tahiti; Ein Aufbruch zur Moderne, exh. cat. (Tulln, Austria: Millenniumsverlag, 2000), 114-15, 118n60, as Paysan et son chien (Der Bauer und sein Hund).
Michele Brangwen, “Italian and Spanish 17th Century Frames: New Recipes for Timeless and Versatile Ingredients,” Picture Framing Magazine 13, no. 10 (October 2002): 80, 82, (repro.), as Landscape (Paysan et son chen [sic] pres [sic] d’une barriere [sic]).
André Cariou, MaryAnne Stevens, and Antoine Terrasse, L’Aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin, exh. cat. (Milan: Skira, 2003), 314, as Paysan et son chien.
Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 15-16.
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), xiv, 125, (repro.), as Landscape.
Nina Siegal, “Upon Closer Review, Credit Goes to Bosch,” New York Times 165, no. 57130 (February 2, 2016): C5.
“Nelson-Atkins to unveil renovated Bloch Galleries of European Art in winter 2017,” Artdaily.org (July 20, 2016): http://artdaily.com/news/88852/Nelson-Atkins-to-unveil-renovated-Bloch-Galleries-of-European-Art-in-winter-2017-#.W-NDepNKhaQ.
Catherine Futter et al., Bloch Galleries: Highlights from the Collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2016), 112, (repro.), as Landscape.
June Ellen Hargrove, Gauguin (Paris: Citadelles et Mazenod, 2017), 284-85, 422, (repro.), as Paysage.
Elizabeth C. Childs, “Paul Gauguin, Landscape in Le Pouldu, 1894,” catalogue entry and Mary Schafer, “Paul Gauguin, Landscape in Le Pouldu, 1894,” in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2022), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.718.
