PIERRE AUGUST RENOIR
in the manner of
"LA GRENOUILLERE"
SIZE : 40 X 30 CM / 16 X 12 IN - PASTEL ON BOARD
VERY GOOD CONDITION - ILLEGIBLY SIGNED LOWER RIGHT
THIS PAINTING SEEMS TO BE A STUDY TO RENOIRS OIL
PAINTING WHICH IS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM IN STOCKHOLM (
see photo nr.5 )
THE PAINTING WILL BE SHIPPED IN PRIORITY AIR MAIL
WITHOUT THE FRAME AND GLASS
I WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS
NO RESERVE AUCTION
BIOGRAPHY
b. Feb. 25, 1841, Limoges, France--d. Dec. 3, 1919,
Cagnes) French painter originally associated with the
Impressionist movement. His early works were typically
Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of
sparkling colour and light. By the mid-1880s, however,
he had broken with the movement to apply a more
disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure
paintings, particularly of women (e.g. , Bathers,
1884-87). In 1854 he began work as a painter in a
porcelain factory in Paris, gaining experience with
the light, fresh colors that were to distinguish his
Impressionist work and also learning the importance of
good craftsmanship. His predilection towards
light-hearted themes was also influenced by the great
Rococco masters, whose works he studied in the Louvre.
In 1862 he entered the studio of Gleyre and there
formed a lasting friendship with Monet, Sisley, and
Bazille. He painted with them in the Barbizon district
and became a leading member of the group of
Impressionists who met at the Café Guerbois. His
relationship with Monet was particularly close at this
time, and their paintings of the beauty spot called La
Grenouillère done in 1869 (an example by Renoir is in
the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) are regarded as the
classic early statements of the Impressionist style.
Like Monet, Renoir endured much hardship early in his
career, but he began to achieve success as a
portraitist in the late 1870s and was freed from
financial worries after the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel
began buying his work regularly in 1881. By this time
Renoir had 'travelled as far as Impressionism could
take me', and a visit to Italy in 1881-82 inspired him
to seek a greater sense of solidarity in his work. The
change in attitude is seen in The Umbrellas (NG,
London), which was evidently begun before the visit to
Italy and finished afterwards; the two little girls on
the right are painted with the feathery brush-strokes
characteristic of his Impressionist manner, but the
figures on the left are done in a crisper and drier
style, with duller coloring. After a period of
experimentation with what he called his `manière
aigre' (harsh or sour manner) in the mid 1880s, he
developed a softer and more supple kind of handling.
At the same time he turned from contemporary themes to
more timeless subjects, particularly nudes, but also
pictures of young girls in unspecific settings. As his
style became grander and simpler he also took up
mythological subjects (The Judgement of Paris;
Hiroshima Museum of Art; 1913-14), and the female type
he preferred became more mature and ample. In the
1890s Renoir began to suffer from rheumatism, and from
1903 (by which time he was world-famous) he lived in
the warmth of the south of France. The rheumatism
eventually crippled him (by 1912 he was confined to a
wheelchair), but he continued to paint until the end
of his life, and in his last years he also took up
sculpture, directing assistants (usually Richard
Guino, a pupil of Maillol) to act as his hands (Venus
Victorious; Tate, London; 1914).
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