22 janvier 2008
Henri Gervex (1852-1929) - Ballerine lisant Le Figaro
Henri Gervex (1852-1929) - Ballerine lisant Le Figaro
Signed with initials 'H. G.' (lower left) - oil on panel - 10 1/2 x 8 1/4 in. (26.7 x 21 cm.) - Estimate: £40,000-60,000
Notes: "Gervex can be found at the Opéra. He seeks to conquer as much as to observe. But the rabbits are harder to kill there than elsewhere, and he will quickly learn that you need bullets issued by the Bank of France"
Edgar Degas, letter to Jacques-Emile Blanche, 1 October 1885
This small panel painting does not appear in the archives of the artist compiled by his widow, and probably left the studio very soon after its execution. As is clear from its small format, it is a work in which the artist gave free rein to his inventiveness and spontaneity, without any concern for a wider audience.
Ballerine lisant Le Figaro was painted at a key moment in Gervex's career, when he most firmly established himself as "a painter of modern life".
A pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Gervex was first dragged into the centre of the Parisian limelight by the scandal elicited by his painting Rolla in 1878, a result of his following too closely the advice of of Edgar Degas (who had insisted that he include in his composition a cast-off corset). By 1885 he was at the pinnacle of his social fame.
Notwithstanding the fact that his public decorations of the mairie of the 9th arrondissement reconciled him with the authorities, Gervex still maintained a critical position towards the Salon and the Academic teachings of the École des Beaux-Arts. Gervex, the elegant model for the sought-after painter Fagerolles in Emile Zola's 1886 novel, L'oeuvre, affirmed his position as a modern painter first by publicly defending his Impressionist elders - notably Edouard Manet who had died in 1883 - and also by setting up his own painting academy with his colleague Fernand Humbert.
Gervex was at the vanguard not only of the visual arts, but also the literary world. He travelled to Italy with Guy de Maupassant in 1885, was friendly with the most influential members of the press, and stayed regularly with the family of Jacque-Émile Blanche in Dieppe, together with Degas and the playwright and author, Ludovic Halévy. In Paris, he also spent time with Degas at the café de la Rochefoucauld, where both artists were regulars, and also in the favourite meeting places of Paris high society, of which the Opéra was one the high temples.
Ballerine lisant le Figaro is one of the paintings which best typifies Gervex's desire to place himself in a modern and naturalist context, above all through his choice of subject matter. Although the world of the ballet had already been a favourite theme of Degas for over ten years, Gervex's ballerina is not one of his friend's so-called "little rats", but rather a star - as indicated by the richness of her floral costume and her brilliant necklace. Her golden red hair, white skin, and characteristically curved nose strongly suggest that the model is once again Louise Valtesse de la Bigne, the famous demi-mondaine and mistress of Gervex, whom Zola immortalised as Nana in his eponymous novel. If the rapid treatment of the tutu catching the light, and the natural and intimate pose of a dancer caught off-stage clearly show Gervex's affiliation with Degas, the artist is also concerned with a social reality, which places him very much alongside his friends Jean-Louis Forain and Maupassant. Just like Forain in his caricatures, Maupassant is here depicting the underbelly of backstage life, a place where the ballerinas are courtesans as much as dancers. The allusions in this work are easy to decipher. More than just a stage prop, the showy and brilliant necklace is the obvious sign of an "admirer". The newspaper which the young lady holds is also the symbol of a social reality of which Gervex is keen to bear witness.
Le Figaro, an organ of the establishment, here plays a role which Gervex has left deliberately vague. At first the dancer, whose features are borrowed from one of the most famous vamps of her age, seems almost to be waiting for a client, as if she were a common prostitute. But the title of the newspaper quickly gives the lie to this. Gervex is teasing his audience. Is the dancer engrossed in the obituary or marriage notices? Or in the financial pages to which Valtesse always paid so much attention? Or perhaps she is reading a first-page review of her own exploits, or indeed those of her admirer?
After having ably exploited to his own advantage the scandal caused by his painting of Rolla, Gervex knew very well of the absolute power of the press. Just like Maupassant's anti-hero Bel Ami, who was partly based on Gervex, the painter owed his position in society very much to the power of women and journalism. In the present work, he contrasts the grace and seductiveness of the ballerina, swathed in the light of a gas lamp, to the triviality of a black and white newspaper - the two colours of the men who loiter in the foyer of the Opéra.
Gervex uses a vibrant and subtle touch in this work, illuminating the pallor of the sitter's shoulders and playing on the harmonies of white in the tutu and the newspaper so suggestively as to almost conjure up the rustling of both. The unguarded pose and treatment of light remind one of Degas, but the combination of delicatedly applied glazes - a testament to his Academic training - and an impressionistic spontaneity, are typical of Gervex.
Gervex's ballerina is presented like a flower in a corolla - a flower like Nana or Valtesse: somewhat carnivorous and immersed in the daily paper that symbolises the coveted power of high society. His painting may have the subtletly of a Degas, but this is combined with the irony and naturalism of Maupassant.
Jean-Christophe Pralong-Gourvennec, to whom we are grateful for writing the above catalogue entry, will include this work in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist.
Christie's. 19th Century European Art. 23 January 2008, 2:00 pm. 8 King Street, St. James's, London
Commentaires
Poster un commentaire
Rétroliens
URL pour faire un rétrolien vers ce message :
http://www.canalblog.com/cf/fe/tb/?bid=119589&pid=7650282
Liens vers des weblogs qui référencent ce message :