Autumn in Brittany (The Willow Tree)
Framed: 47 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches (120.02 x 102.24 x 8.89 cm)
Salon d’Automne: 4me exposition; Œuvres de Gauguin, Grand Palais, Paris, October 6-November 15, 1906, no. 215, as L’Automne en Bretagne.
Exposition Rétrospective: Hommage au génial Artiste Franco-Péruvien Gauguin, Association Paris-Amérique Latine, Paris, opened December 17, 1926, no. 7, as Paysage de Bretagne.
Possibly La Vie Ardente de Gauguin, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, November 1936, no. 77, as Paysage de Bretagne.
Gauguin: Exposition du centenaire, Musée de l’Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, July 1949, no. 17, as Paysage de Bretagne: le Saule.
Chefs-d’œuvre des collections françaises, Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, July-September 1961, no. 79.
Important XIX and XX Century Works of Art, Lefèvre Gallery, London, June 16-July 22, 1983, no. 6, as Le Saule.
Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9-September 9, 2007, no. 22, as The Willow Tree (Le saule).
Gauguin: Unexpected, Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, October 3, 2024–January 19, 2025.
Fleeing what he felt was the overly civilized and decadent environment of Paris, Paul Gauguin lived periodically in the remote and rugged Brittany region of northwestern France. In works such as this, he sought to convey traditional village life, which he considered an antidote to the ills of modern society.
Unlike the Impressionists, Gauguin did not aim to objectively reproduce the natural world. Rather, through a careful synthesis of exaggerated line, form, and color, he strove to capture the essence of his subjects as filtered through his own perceptions.
Deposited by the artist with Claude-Émile Schuffenecker (1851–1934), Paris, probably by December 1890–1893 [1];
Purchased from the artist, through Claude-Émile Schuffenecker, by George-Daniel de Monfreid (1856–1929), Paris, by August 3, 1893 [2];
Purchased from George-Daniel de Monfreid by Ernest Cros (1857–1946), Paris, 1893–no later than 1938;
To his daughter Dr. Lucile-Marie-Jeanne Ménard (née Cros, 1888–1951), Paris, by 1938–1951 [3];
By descent to her niece, Colette-Marie-Christine Andrieu (née May, 1912–2016), Paris, 1951–December 1981 [4];
Purchased from Colette-Marie-Christine Andrieu by the Galerie Robert Schmit, Paris, December 1981 [5];
Purchased from Galerie Robert Schmit by Alex Reid and Lefèvre Ltd., London, by June 16, 1983–1984 [6];
Purchased from Alex Reid and Lefèvre Ltd., through Susan L. Brody Associates, New York, by Marion (née Helzberg, 1931–2013) and Henry (1922–2019) Bloch, Shawnee Mission, KS, June 12, 1984–June 15, 2015;
Given by Henry and Marion Bloch to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.
NOTES:
[1] Gauguin stayed with Schuffenecker in Paris from December 1890 until he left for Tahiti in April 1891. Jean de Rotonchamp describes Gauguin’s latest paintings stacked up in Schuffenecker’s home “turned to face the wall, sitting directly on the floor” as of December 1890. It is probable that this 1889 picture was amongst those that Gauguin stored in Schuffenecker’s home. Jean de Rotonchamp, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903 (Paris: Éditions G. Crès et Cie, 1925), 77. A letter from George-Daniel de Monfreid to Ernest Cros, ca. 1893, collection of Daniel Andrieu (copy in NAMA curatorial files), states that Cros saw the painting at the home of Émile Schuffenecker in 1892.
[2] See letter from George-Daniel de Monfreid to Ernest Cros, ca. 1893, NAMA curatorial files. This letter specifies that de Monfreid purchased the work from Gauguin sometime before Gauguin returned to Paris from his first trip to Tahiti in August 1893.
[3] Raymond Cogniat lists Ménard as the owner of the painting for the first time in 1938. See Raymond Cogniat, Gauguin (Paris: Éditions Braun et Cie, 1938). Ménard had no children and left her Gauguin to her niece, Colette-Marie-Christine Andrieu. See email from Daniel Andrieu, son of Colette Andrieu, to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, January 4, 2019, NAMA curatorial files.
[4] See email from Daniel Andrieu, son of Colette Andrieu, to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, January 4, 2019, NAMA curatorial files.
[5] See e-mail from Manuel Schmit, Galerie Schmit, Paris, to Brigid Boyle,
NAMA, May 4, 2015, NAMA curatorial files.
[6]See email from Alex Corcoran, Lefevre Fine Art, to MacKenzie Mallon, NAMA, March 18, 2019. The painting was featured in a Lefèvre exhibition in the summer of 1983. See Important XIX and XX Century Works of Art , Lefèvre Gallery, London, June 16–July 22, 1983, no. 6, as Le Saule.
Catalogue des Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Art Décoratif, exh. cat. (Paris: Compagnie Française des Papiers-Monnaie, 1906), 201, as L’Automne en Bretagne.
Robert Rey, Masters of Modern Art: Gauguin, trans. F[rédéric] C[esar] de Sumichrast (London: Bodley Head, [1924]), 5, (repro.), as The Willow, Le Saule, Die Weide, Il salice, and El sauce.
Exposition Rétrospective: Hommage au génial Artiste Franco-Péruvien Gauguin, exh. cat. (Paris: Association Paris-Amérique Latine, 1926), 18, as Paysage de Bretagne.
F[elipe] Cossío del Pomar, Arte y Vida de Pablo Gauguin (Escuela Sintetista) (Paris: Léon Sánchez Cuesta, 1930), 119, 364, (repro.), as Paisaje bretón.
Possibly Raymond Cogniat, La Vie Ardente de Paul Gauguin, exh. cat. (Paris: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, [1936]), 61, as Paysage de Bretagne.
Raymond Cogniat, Gauguin (Paris: Éditions Braun et Cie, 1938), (repro.), as Le saule. Bretagne.
R[eginald] H[oward] Wilenski, Modern French Painters (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, [1940]), 351, as Le saule: Paysage de Bretagne.
Maurice Malingue, Gauguin (Monaco: Documents d’art, 1943), 72, 154, (repro.), as Le Saule, Paysage Breton.
Anne-Marie Berryer, “À Propos d’un Vase de Chaplet Décoré par Gauguin,” Bulletin des Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire 16, nos. 1-2 (January-April 1944): 19, 21, (repro.), as Le Saule.
Hans Graber, Paul Gauguin: Nach Eigenen und Fremden Zeugnissen, 2nd ed. (Basel: Benno Schwabe, 1946), 509, (repro.), as Bretagnelandschaft.
Raymond Cogniat, Gauguin (Paris: Éditions Pierre Tisné, 1947), 50, (repro.), as The Willow-Tree.
René-Jean, Gauguin (Paris: Éditions Braun et Cie, 1948), unpaginated, (repro.), as Paysage de Bretagne. Le Saule.
Maurice Malingue, Gauguin: Le Peintre et Son Œuvre (Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1948), 138, (repro.), as Le Saule.
Jean Leymarie, Gauguin: Exposition du Centenaire, exh. cat. ([Paris]: Éditions des musées nationaux, 1949), 29-30, as Paysage de Bretagne: Le Saule.
John Rewald, Gauguin (New York: Hyperion Press, 1949), 88, 166, (repro.), as The Willow: Landscape in Brittany.
Lee Van Dovski [Herbert Lewandowski], Paul Gauguin, oder die Flucht vor der Zivilisation (Olten, Switzerland: Delphi Verlag, 1950), 345, as Le saule.
Gilberte Martin-Méry, Gauguin et le Groupe de Pont-Aven, exh. cat. (Paris: Éditions des musées nationaux, 1950), 16, as Le Saule.
Raymond Cogniat, Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903 (Paris: Éditions Braun et Cie, 1953), unpaginated, (repro.), as Le Saule. Bretagne.
Richard S. Field, Paul Gauguin: The Paintings of the First Voyage to Tahiti (1963; repr., New York: Garland, 1977), 28, 37, 235n23, as Le Saule.
Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin, vol. 1, Catalogue (Paris: Beaux-Arts, 1964), no. 347, pp. 96, 132-33, 281, (repro.), as Le Saule.
Merete Bodelsen, “The Literature of Art: The Wildenstein-Cogniat Gauguin Catalogue,” The Burlington Magazine 108, no. 754 (January 1966): 36.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, L’opera completa di Gauguin (Milan: Rizzoli, 1972), no. 166, pp. 96-97, 119, (repro.), as Il Salice.
Lee van Dowski [Herbert Lewandowski], Die Wahrheit über Gauguin: Mit vielen, zum Teil farbigen Abbildungen und einem “Katalog der Gemälde” (Darmstadt, Germany: Josef Gotthard Bläschke Verlag, 1973), 108, 263, 279, (repro.), as Weidenbaum in der Bretagne and Le Saule.
Richard S. Field, Paul Gauguin: Monotypes, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973), 69, as Le Saule.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, La obra pictórica completa de Gauguin (Barcelona: Noguer, 1973), no. 166, pp. 96-97, 119, (repro.), as El sauce.
Roger Cucchi, Gauguin à la Martinique: Le musée imaginaire complet de ses Peintures, Dessins, Sculptures, Céramiques, les Faux, les Lettres, les Catalogues d’Expositions (Vaduz, Liechtenstein: Calivran Anstalt, 1979), 73, as L’Automne en Bretagne.
Elda Fezzi, Tout Gauguin, vol. 1, 1873-1889, trans. Simone Darses (1980; Paris: Flammarion, 1982), 84, (repro.), as Le saule.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, Tout l’œuvre peint de Gauguin (Paris: Flammarion, 1981), no. 166, pp. 96-97, 117, 119, (repro.), as Le Saule.
Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism, exh. cat. (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1981), 220n1.
Important XIX and XX Century Works of Art, exh. cat. (London: Lefevre Gallery, 1983), 3, 14-15, (repro.), as Le Saule.
Nicholas Alfrey, “London: Nineteenth-Century French Exhibitions,” Burlington Magazine 125, no. 966 (September 1983): 569, as Le saule.
advertisement, Burlington Magazine 126, no. 970 (January 1984): v, (repro.), as Le Saule.
Denise Delouche, ed., Pont-Aven et ses peintres à propos d’un centenaire (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2, 1986), 54, 78n9, as le Saule.
Paul Gauguin, exh. cat. (Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, 1987), 76-77, 82, 166-67, (repro.), as The Willow.
Richard Brettell et al., The Art of Paul Gauguin, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1988), 80, 179, as Le Saule (The Willow).
René Huyghe, Gauguin, trans. Helen C. Slonim, rev. ed. (New York: Crown, 1988), 26, 96, (repro.), as The Willow.
G[abriele] M[andel] Sugana, La obra pictórica completa de Gauguin (Barcelona: Planeta, 1988), no. 166, pp. 96-97, 119, (repro.), as El sauce.
Joan Minguet, Gauguin: His Life and Complete Works (Stamford, CT: Longmeadow Press, 1995), 99, (repro.), as The Willow.
Denise Delouche, Gauguin et la Bretagne (Rennes: Éditions Apogée, 1996), 60n2, as Le saule.
Ziva Amishai-Maisels et al., Paul Gauguin: Von der Bretagne nach Tahiti; Ein Aufbruch zur Moderne, exh. cat. (Tulln, Austria: Millenniumsverlag, 2000), 117n20, 118n55, 122, 254, as Le saule (Die Weide).
Claude Jeancolas, La peinture des Nabis (Paris: FVW édition, 2002), 46–47, (repro.), as Le Saule.
Daniel Wildenstein et al., Gauguin: A Savage in the Making; Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings (1873-1888), vol. 2 (Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 2002), no. 347, pp. 346, 382, as Willow.
Marco Goldin, Gauguin, Van Gogh: L’avventura del colore nuovo, exh. cat. (Conegliano, Italy: Linea d’ombra libri, 2005), 358n1.
Rebecca Dimling Cochran and Bobbie Leigh, “100 Top Collectors Who Have Made a Difference,” Art and Antiques 29, no. 3 (March 2006): 90, as The Willow.
Bobbie Leigh, “Magnificent Obsession,” Art and Antiques 28, no. 6 (June 2006): 62, 65, as The Willow.
“Inaugural Exhibitions Celebrate Kansas City,” Member Magazine (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (Fall 2006): 3.
Pierre Sanchez, Dictionnaire du Salon d’Automne: Répertoire des Exposants et Liste des Œuvres Présentées, vol. 2 (Dijon: Échelle de Jacob, 2006), 580, as L’Automne en Bretagne.
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), 10-11, 15-16, 116-21, 160, (repro,), as The Willow Tree (Le saule).
“Lasting Impressions: A Tribute to Marion and Henry Bloch,” Member Magazine (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (Fall 2007): 11.
Steve Paul, “Pretty Pictures: Marion and Henry Bloch’s collection of superb Impressionist masters,” Panache 4, no. 3 (Fall 2007): 20-24.
Stephen F. Eisenman, ed., Paul Gauguin: Artist of Myth and Dream, exh. cat. (Milan: Skira, 2007), 256.
“Kansas City Riches,” New York Times 159, no. 54,942 (February 5, 2010): C26.
Thomas M. Bloch, Many Happy Returns: The Story of Henry Bloch, America’s Tax Man (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2011), 174, as The Willow.
Diane Stafford, “Bloch gift to go for Nelson upgrade,” Kansas City Star 135, no. 203 (April 8, 2015): A8.
“World-Class Bloch Art Collection Will Be on Permanent View in Renovated Galleries at the Nelson-Atkins,” Artdaily.org (April 9, 2015): http://artdaily.com/news/77729/World-class-Bloch-Art-Collection-will-be-on-permanent-view-in-renovated-galleries-at-the-Nelson-Atkins#.VSayTFI5C9I
“Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art officially accessions Bloch Impressionist masterpieces,” Artdaily.org (July 25, 2015): http://artdaily.com/news/80246/Nelson-Atkins-Museum-of-Art-officially-accessions-Bloch-Impressionist-masterpieces, as The Willow Tree.
Julie Paulais, “Le Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art reçoit des tableaux impressionnistes en échange de leurs répliques,” Le Journal des arts (July 30, 2015): http://www.lejournaldesarts.fr/site/archives/docs_article/129801/le-nelson-atkins-museum-of-art-recoit-des-tableaux-impressionnistes-en-echange-de-leurs-repliques.php.
Josh Niland, “The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Acquires a Renowned Collection of Impressionist and Postimpressionist Art,” architecturaldigest.com (August 6, 2015): https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/nelson-atkins-museum-accessions-bloch-art-collection
Nancy Staab, “Van Gogh is a Go!” 435: Kansas City’s Magazine (September 2015): 76, as The Willow Tree.
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-, as The Willow Tree.
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), 108, (repro.).
Albert Hect, “Henry Bloch’s Masterpieces Collection to Go on Display at Nelson-Atkins Museum,” Jewish Business News (February 26, 2017): http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2017/02/26/henry-bloch-masterpieces-collection/.
David Frese, “Inside the Bloch Galleries: An interactive experience,” Kansas City Star 137, no. 169 (March 5, 2017): 1D, 4D, (repro.), as The Willow Tree.
“The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Presenting the Bloch Galleries,” New York Times (March 5, 2017).
“Editorial: Thank you, Henry and Marion Bloch”, Kansas City Star (March 7, 2017): http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article137040948.html.
Hampton Stevens, “(Not Actually) 12 Things To Do During The Big 12 Tournament,” Flatland: KCPT’s Digital Magazine (March 9, 2017): http://www.flatlandkc.org/arts-culture/sports/not-actually-12-big-12-tournament/.
Laura Spencer, “The Nelson-Atkins’ Bloch Galleries feature Old Masterworks and New Technology,” KCUR (March 10, 2017): http://kcur.org/post/nelson-atkins-bloch-galleries-feature-old-masterworks-and-new-technology#stream/0.
Victoria Stapley-Brown, “Nelson-Atkins Museum’s new European art galleries come with a ‘love story’,” Art Newspaper (March 10, 2017): http://theartnewspaper.com/news/museums/nelson-atkins-museum-s-new-european-art-galleries-come-with-a-love-story/.
Harry Bellet, “Don du ciel pour le Musée Nelson-Atkins,” Le Monde (March 13, 2017): http://www.lemonde.fr/arts/article/2017/03/13/don-du-ciel-pour-le-musee-nelson-atkins_5093543_1655012.html.
Menachem Wecker, “Jewish Philanthropist Establishes Kansas City as Cultural Mecca,” Forward (March 14, 2017): http://forward.com/culture/365264/jewish-philanthropist-establishes-kansas-city-as-cultural-mecca/ [repr. in Menachem Wecker, “Kansas City Collection Is A Chip Off the Old Bloch,” Forward (March 17, 2017): 20-22].
Juliet Helmke, “The Bloch Collection Takes up Residence in Kansas City’s Nelson Atkins Museum,” BlouinArtInfo International, (March 15, 2017): http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/2005267/the-bloch-collection-takes-up-residence-in-kansas-citys?utm_source=Blouin+Artinfo+Newsletters&utm_campaign=a2555adf27-Daily+Digest+03.16.2017+-+8+AM&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_df23dbd3c6-a2555adf27-83695841.
Erich Hatala Matthes, “Digital replicas are not soulless – they help us engage with art,” Apollo: The International Art Magazine (March 23, 2017): https://www.apollo-magazine.com/digital-replicas-3d-printing-original-artworks/.
Louise Nicholson, “How Kansas City got its magnificent museum,” Apollo: The International Art Magazine (April 7, 2017): https://www.apollo-magazine.com/how-kansas-city-got-its-magnificent-museum/.
André Cariou, Dessins de Gauguin: la Bretagne à l'œuvre (Paris: Hazan, 2017), 96, (repro), as Le Saule.
June Ellen Hargrove, Gauguin (Paris: Citadelles et Mazenod, 2017), 101-03, 422, (repro.), as Le Saule pleurer.
Robert D. Hershey Jr., “Henry Bloch, H&R Block’s cofounder, dies at 96,” Boston Globe (April 23, 2019): https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2019/04/23/henry-bloch-block-cofounder/?arc404=true.
Robert D. Hershey Jr., “Henry W. Bloch, Tax-Preparation Pioneer (and Pitchman), Is Dead at 96,” New York Times (April 23, 2019): https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/obituaries/henry-w-bloch-dead.html.
Claire Selvin, “Henry Wollman Bloch, Collector and Prominent Benefactor of Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Is Dead at 96,” ArtNews (April 23, 2019): http://www.artnews.com/2019/04/23/henry-bloch-dead-96/.
“Henry Wollman Bloch (1922-2019),” Art Forum (April 24, 2019): https://www.artforum.com/news/henry-wollman-bloch-1922-2019-79547.
Frank Morris, “Henry Bloch, Co-Founder Of H&R Block, Dies At 96,” npr.org (April 24, 2019): https://www.npr.org/2019/04/24/716641448/henry-bloch-co-founder-of-h-r-block-dies-at-96.
Ignacio Villarreal, “Nelson-Atkins mourns loss of Henry Bloch,” ArtDaily.org (April 24, 2019): http://artdaily.com/news/113035/Nelson-Atkins-mourns-loss-of-Henry-Bloch#.XMB76qR7laQ.
Eric Adler and Joyce Smith, “H&R Block co-founder, philanthropist Bloch dies,” Cass County Democrat Missourian 140, no. 29 (April 26, 2019): 1A.
Eric Adler and Joyce Smith, “KC businessman and philanthropist Henry Bloch dies,” Lee’s Summit Journal 132, no. 79 (April 26, 2019): 1A.
Luke Nozicka, “Family and friends remember Henry Bloch of H&R Block,” Kansas City Star 139, no. 225 (April 30 2019): 4A [repr. Luke Nozicka, “Family and friends remember Henry Bloch of H&R Block,” Kansas City Star 139, no. 228 (May 3, 2019): 3A].
Elizabeth C. Childs, “Paul Gauguin, Autumn in Brittany (The Willow Tree), 1889,” catalogue entry and Mary Schafer, “Paul Gauguin, Autumn in Brittany (The Willow Tree), 1889,” technical entry 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/10.37764/78973.5.714.
