LOG IN PREFERRED ACCESS ABOUT DISCOVER SERVICES HOW TO BUY & SELL LANGUAGE

A POINTILLIST MASTERPIECE BY CAMILLE PISSARRO

SHARE
LEADS AN EXCEPTIONAL TRIO OF RESTITUTED WORKS

AUCTIONS BUY NOW PRIVATE SALES SELL Search Sotheby's

A Pointillist Masterpiece by
Camille Pissarro Leads an
Exceptional Trio of Restituted
Works
BY SOTHEBY'S | JAN 14, 2020

S otheby’s Impressionist, Modern & Surrealist Art Evening Sale in February 2020 included
three works restituted to the heirs of Gaston Lévy, one of the most notable patrons and art
collectors living in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. A highly successful businessman and property
developer, Lévy and his family lived in a magnificent apartment on the Avenue de Friedland,
which he filled with books, paintings and works of art, many of which he bought from the great
dealers of his day, including Bernheim-Jeune, Paul Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard.

Lévy’s art collection was dispersed under the Nazi occupation, and two of the works to be offered
in February were lost to the ‘Einsatztab Reichsleiter Rosenberg’ (an organisation dedicated to
receiving looted cultural property) in October 1940. After the war, the works were repatriated to
the French state, and have recently been restituted by the French Government to Lévy’s heirs from
the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

“Sotheby’s is honoured to have been chosen by

Gaston Lévy’s heirs to offer these important
paintings and to tell the story of the collector and
his heritage.”
LUCIAN SIMMONS, SOTHEBY’S WORLDWIDE HEAD OF RESTITUTION

One of the works offered – Signac’s Quai de Clichy. Temps gris – had been stored in the Lévy’s
country home, the Château des Bouffards, but later found its way into the collection of the dealer
Hildebrand Gurlitt, whose illicit hoard was discovered by the authorities in 2012.

PAUL SIGNAC, QUAI DE CLICHY. TEMPS GRIS, 1887.

The jewel of the group was a Pointillist masterpiece by Camille Pissarro. Painted with enormous
thought and dedication over a period of some six months, Gelée blanche, jeune paysanne faisant du
feu depicts a young woman and child building a fire on a cold winter’s morning, where every
brushstroke works to bring to life the movement of smoke in the wind.

One of Pissarro’s greatest achievements, this tour de force of light and colour also ranks among
greatest examples of Pointillism ever created. The creation of this extraordinary work was – as
Pissarro’s letters from the time attest – a labour of love. Some six months in the making, this work
stands apart from the main body of his work, wherein the artist’s deep understanding of the new,
scientific colour theory was harnessed to extraordinary artistic effect. Pissarro completed the work
in time for the 6th exhibition of the Cercle des XX in Brussels, where it was heralded as a tour de
force in Neo-Impressionism.

CAMILLE PISSARRO, GELÉE BLANCHE, JEUNE PAYSANNE FAISANT DU FEU, 1887-88

Conceived on a grand scale, the painting captures the effects of both heat and cold in a brilliant
rendering of the complexities of light and atmosphere. Against the backdrop of the low sun casting
shadows on the meadows and the lingering night frost, smoke rises with a shimmering heat,
resulting in a remarkable and uniquely nuanced representation of fire, smoke and cold air that is
yet to be matched.

The subject of the burning fire – and the challenge of representing it – was something that clearly
intrigued Pissarro throughout his career. He returned to this particular subject no fewer than six
times – twice in oil, and four times on paper (an example of which can now be seen in the
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford).

ARTIST

Camille Pissarro

In addition to the brilliance with which the effects of light, fire and wind are rendered, Gelée
blanche, jeune paysanne faisant du feu is also testimony to Pissarro’s empathetic approach to the
human condition. In many ways, his interest in painting the working classes is what distinguishes
him from so many of his contemporaries. In making humans the subject of his works – figures
with landscapes, rather than figures within landscapes – he stands out as the great humanist
among the Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painters, marking out his independence from
them.

This painting has previously been exhibited at many institutions internationally including Paris’
Musée de l’Orangerie and Musée d’Orsay, Tokyo’s The Bunkamura Museum of Art and São Paulo’s
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, to name a few.

Through his patronage of the Pointillists, Lévy also formed a lifelong friendship with Paul Signac,
holidaying with the artist as well as sponsoring his project to paint 107 ports in France – securing
his first pick from every batch of watercolours. Over the arc of his collecting career, Lévy owned
forty-four oils by the artist. The auction will offer two paintings from different points in Signac’s
oeuvre – transporting the viewer from a brisk morning in a Parisian port to the exotic delights of
Istanbul’s waterside.

Signac’s two great passions in life were painting and sailing, and when the artist first travelled to
Istanbul in the spring of 1907 – an adventurous endeavour to pastures new – he was immediately
struck by the unique quality of light and colour that filled the ancient city.

PAUL SIGNAC, LA CORNE D’OR. MATIN, 1907

The historic location inspired twelve paintings, all of which take as their subject the Golden Horn,
a busy waterway teeming with life near the port of Istanbul, that was one of the key entrances to
the Ottoman capital at the time. In this ethereal work, the skyline of the city is easily recognisable
in the background, with the famous minarets of the Hagia Sophia an unmistakable silhouette on
the horizon. In November 2019 another view of Constantinople was sold at Sotheby’s in New York
for $16,210,000.

The brilliant luminosity of the composition, bathed in the morning light, is typical of Signac’s late
style – showing the influence of Fauvism – and is wonderfully effective here in paying homage to
the historical legacy and richness of the city, whilst rendering it in a completely fresh and modern
way.

ARTIST

Paul Signac

This elegant, pointillist observation of the Quai de Clichy is a classic example of Signac’s Opus
pictures, paintings he considered ‘complete compositions’ which are now seen as his earliest and
greatest contributions to Neo-Impressionism.

Signac’s family moved to the northwest of Paris in 1880, to a suburb running along the river Seine.
The varied landscape of the region – comprising both the river and factory chimneys – provided a
great source of inspiration to the young artist, fulfilling his interests in sailing, science and
innovation. In the year this was painted, Signac was joined in his painting expeditions around
Clichy by Vincent van Gogh, who depicts the bridges just further up from this composition.

“These exceptional works are truly testament to

two great artists’ persistent and ultimately
triumphant attempts to break new boundaries in
art – with every inch on their canvases a highly-
finished kaleidoscope of perfectly chosen colour.
Their history also paints a compelling picture of
the realities of restitution, and we look forward to
being part of the next step in their journey.”
THOMAS BOYD-BOWMAN, HEAD OF SOTHEBY’S IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART EVENING SALES IN LONDON

The work was discovered in the possession of Cornelius Gurlitt, a reclusive art hoarder who died in
2014, and having been identified as looted by the Nazis, was restituted by the estate to the heirs of
Gaston Lévy in July 2019. The sister composition of Quai de Clichy. Soleil is now in the Baltimore
Museum of Art.

PAST AUCTION

Impressionist, Modern &

Surrealist Art Evening Sale
4 FEBRUARY 2020 | 7:00 PM GMT | LONDON

IMPRESSIONIST & MO… RESTITUTION

More from Sotheby's

THE NEW YORK SALES

Picasso and the Surrealists

CLASSIC DESIGN WEEK

THE NEW YORK SALES IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART Reappraising the Art of Orientalism
Preview 24 Stellar Highlights from The New York Sales The Vietnamese Spirit: A Royal A
Collection and an Enduring
Friendship

Stay informed with Sotheby’s top

stories, videos, events & news.
Receive the best from Sotheby’s delivered to your inbox.

* EMAIL ADDRESS TITLE

Email Address Title

FIRST NAME LAST NAME

First Name Last Name

By subscribing you are agreeing to Sotheby’s Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe
from Sotheby’s emails at any time by clicking the “Manage your Subscriptions”
link in any of your emails.

SUBMIT

geschützt durch reCAPTCHA

Datenschutzerklärung -
Nutzungsbedingungen

Follow Us twitter facebook instagram youtube sinaweibo

SUPPORT CORPORATE MORE...

Contact Us Press Security

FAQ Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions

Locations Corporate Governance Conditions of Business

Download the App Careers Modern Slavery Statement

Do Not Sell My Personal

Information
BACK TO TOP

(C) 2023 Sotheby's All alcoholic beverage sales in New York are made solely by Sotheby's Wine (NEW L1046028)
Need Help