Henry Moret (French, 1856-1913) Riviere de St Maurice 1905 S...

Hammer

£55,000

Henry Moret (French, 1856-1913)
Riviere de St Maurice
1905
Signed lower right, 'Moret'
Oil on canvas

Provenance:
Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (Stock no. 8632);
Chester H. Johnson Gallery, Chicago, USA;
Anon. Sale Christie's New York, October 8 1987, Lot 32;
Private Collection, Switzerland;
With Connaught Brown;
Private Collection, UK (acquired from the above December 1998).

Exhibited, Connaught Brown, The Winter Exhibition, November 1998 - January 1999

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Monsieur J.Y Rolland, who is currently preparing the catalogue raisonne.

Born in Cherbourg in 1856 Moret remained drawn to the North of France and his maritime roots and spent almost his entire life living and working in Brittany.

Moret began his career in Paris, working in the ateliers of J-L Gerome and J.P. Laurens and made. his first appearance at the Salon in 1880. However he was to move rapidly away from academic conventions and concentrated on working ‘en plein an'.

Along with Gustave Loiseau, and Maxime Maufra, Moret was part of the group of young artists who clustered around Gauguin at Pont-Aven. From 1891 Moret applied the principles of synthetism to his work: in particular, the massing of colour zones and reduction of tonal effects, and the establishment of clear planes in pictorial structure. This latter element was always to remain a characteristic feature of his work.

Moret’s travels around the morbihonnaise coast before he settled in Douelan in 1896, and the time he spent in the Iles de Groix and d’Ouessant observing and studying local peasant customs and the world of fishermen, was to concentrate his attention on marine subjects. These preoccupied him almost exclusively for the rest of his career.

In 1895 Moret met the famous Neo-Impressionist dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, who immediately took him on. From this time, Moret increasingly adopted Impressionist values and techniques: his brushwork became more broken and spontaneous; and the use of colour more varied, with tones inter-mingled.

La Riviere Saint-Maurice exemplifies his virtuosity in this, capturing the fleeting atmosphere of a sunny day in the undisturbed Brittany countryside and the rich and varied waters of the river.

Dimensions:
(Frame) 21 in. (H) x 26 in. (W)
(Canvas) 13 in. (H) x 18 in. (W)