Possible Renoir painting?
marco
Hello,
About fifteen years ago I saw an exhibit consisting
of the "Reader's Digest" art collection. Most of
the paintings were by impressionists, and to this
day there is one that stands out in my memory...
The painting is impressionist, and it's a portrait
of a girl or a young woman on her way to a music
lesson. The picture shows her profile, from her
elbows to the top of her head. She is holding a box
containing a flute, and wears a strikingly blue
dress (which is what I most vividly remember).
I'm pretty sure it was a Renoir, but I'm not 100%
sure. I don't remember the title, it might have been
something like "Girl on her way to a music lesson".
For years I have searched for a copy of this painting
to no avail, I've looked through dozens of books
on Renoir but I've had no success (perhaps it's not
a Renoir?)
Anyway, does this painting sound familiar to anyone?
A reference with a reproduction, a scan, a title,
anything would be appreciated. I don't usually read
this group, so a CC would be nice if possible...
Thanks!
--
ma...@reimeika.ca
Gunnm: Broken Angel
http://reimeika.ca/ http://photo.reimeika.ca
Frank Young
> The painting is impressionist, and it's a portrait
> of a girl or a young woman on her way to a music
> lesson. The picture shows her profile, from her
> elbows to the top of her head. She is holding a box
> containing a flute, and wears a strikingly blue
> dress (which is what I most vividly remember).
> I'm pretty sure it was a Renoir, but I'm not 100%
> sure. I don't remember the title, it might have been
> something like "Girl on her way to a music lesson".
> Anyway, does this painting sound familiar to anyone?
> A reference with a reproduction, a scan, a title,
> anything would be appreciated.
Indeed, your memory is quite good. You are describing, almost
certainly, Renoir's "Jeune Femme en Bleu Allant au Conservatoire,"
a part of the Lila Acheson Wallace collection, later the Reader's Digest
Collection. It was sold, as part of a lot of thirty-seven paintings, at
Christie's/Sotheby's, New York City, on November 16, 1998.
Here is an excerpt from Sotheby's commentary: "Renoir's beautiful portrait
of a Jeune femme en bleu allant au Conservatoire, from 1877, depicts a
young woman on her way to the Conservatoire, the school of Performing
Arts in Paris. The free and spontaneous brushwork here gives the
impression of life and movement and represents the purest Impressionist
techniques. Nonetheless, Renoir takes care to be exact in the details of
the model's fashionable dress, feather bonnet and loose bracelet. The
collar of her blue dress highlights her pale, round face, framed by a
delicate hat balanced on her head. Her posture and the sweeping strokes
around her head add a sense of movement to the painting. Her assured
glance asserts a purpose to her movement, yet there is a playful coyness
in the way she holds her hands that suggests innocence. It is entirely
possible that the model for Jeune femme en bleu allant au Conservatoire is
the very same young woman in the large scale painting La sortie du
Conservatoire of the same year that is in the Barnes Collection."
The purchaser seems to have been the Cultural Foundation of Okada, but you
will need to verify that I have the name correctly presented. The work
went on display in its collection on, or just before, April 3, 1999.
Regards, Frank Young
tip...@wam.umd.edu 703-527-7684
Post Office Box 2793, Kensington, Maryland 20891
"Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate... Nunc cognosco ex parte"
Gud Nabor
says...
>
>
>Hello,
>
>About fifteen years ago I saw an exhibit consisting
>of the "Reader's Digest" art collection.
>Anyway, does this painting sound familiar to anyone?
>A reference with a reproduction, a scan, a title,
>anything would be appreciated. I don't usually read
>this group, so a CC would be nice if possible...
If you're really stuck on finding out, why
not simply write to the Reader's Digest?
Just copy this post to them - it should do
the trick.
Frank Young
> The painting is impressionist, and it's a portrait
> of a girl or a young woman on her way to a music
> lesson.
Good afternoon, Marco, again:
After I ran down your painting, I decided to look into it a bit further,
because it sounded so interesting. When I soon found out that it was once
owned by Miriam Hopkins, one of my favorite film actresses from the '30's
and '40's, I became yet more interested -- if you do not know her work,
try to see both "The Old Maid" and "Old Acquaintance," in both of which
she co-starred with Bette Davis.
Below you will find a collection of data about the painting, including at
least two publications in which you will find illustrations. The longest
discussion of the work is in <The Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin> (December,
1933), pp. 17-20, but apparently without illustration. See also
Francois Daulte, <Auguste Renoir: Catalogue Raisonne de l'Oeuvre Peint:
vol. I: Les Figures 1860-1890> (Lausanne, 1971), no. 244, illustrated; and
Peter Viertel, "Miriam Hopkins, Heroine of Trouble in Paradise and
Becky Sharp on Tower Grove Road,' in <Architectural Digest> (April, 1998)
with a photograph on p. 213. Three paragraphs below, you will
find full bibliographical citations for these three.
Any of the items listed below can be had through interlibrary loan, a
service available at your local college, university, or public library,
if you are in the United States or Canada. If you cite the OCLC accession
number, which is supplied at the bottom of each entry, usually your
request will be processed a bit faster. Many modern library systems allow
a patron to place requests for interlibrary loans online -- check to
see if that option is available to you.
If you are not in an area of North America that is served by the
interlibrary loan program, you probably will find some of these items in
your nearest major library, particularly large national or university
collections. In Britain, for example, both the Bodleian and the
British Library are likely to have many of these materials. Then
again, perhaps an American or Canadian friend could get the material for
you and photocopy the relevant information.
*****
The Pennsylvania Museum bulletin.
Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art.; Pennsylvania Museum
of Art.
1920-1938 English Serial Publication : Periodical : Bimonthly (every
2 months) 16 v. : ill. ; 24 cm. Philadelphia : Pennsylvania Museum and
School of Industrial Art,
Title: The Pennsylvania Museum bulletin.
Corp Author(s): Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. ;
Pennsylvania Museum of Art.
Publication: Philadelphia : Pennsylvania Museum and School of
Industrial Art,
Year: 1920-1938
Frequency: Bimonthly (except July-Oct.), 1935-Mar. 1938; Former:
Frequency varies, 1920-1934
Description: [Vol. 17], no. 65 (Feb. 1920)-v. 33, no. 177 (Mar.
1938).; 16 v. :; ill. ;; 24 cm.
Standard No: ISSN: 0891-3609; LCCN: 94-640182 ; sn 86-2801
Note(s): Vols. for 1920- issued by: Pennsylvania Museum and School of
Industrial Art; for <1933>-1938 by: Pennsylvania Museum of Art.
Class Descriptors: LC: N685; Dewey: 708/.148/11
Other Titles: Pa. Mus. bull.; The Pennsylvania Museum bulletin
Preceding Title: Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum; (DLC) 38032560;
(OCoLC)7887781
Succeeding Title: Philadelphia Museum bulletin; (DLC) 94640183;
(OCoLC)6033590; 0899-059X
Accession No: OCLC: 7887780
*****
Auguste Renoir:
catalogue raisonnÇ de l'oeuvre peint.
Franáois Daulte
1971 French Book v. illus. (part col.) 33cm. Lausanne, Durand-Ruel,
Title: Auguste Renoir: catalogue raisonnÇ de l'oeuvre peint.
Author(s): Daulte, Franáois.
Publication: Lausanne, Durand-Ruel,
Year: 1971
Description: v. illus. (part col.) 33cm.
Contents: Volume 1: Figures, 1860-1890.
Standard No: LCCN: 73-302248
Note(s): Bibliography: v. 1, p. 57-69.
Class Descriptors: LC: ND553.R45
Responsibility: Avant-propos de Jean Renoir. PrÇf. de Charles
Durand-Ruel.
Accession No: OCLC: 586175
*****
Architectural digest.
1925- English Serial Publication : Periodical : Monthly v. : ill. ;
28-35 cm. Los Angeles : John C. Brasfield Pub. Corp.
Title: Architectural digest.
Publication: Los Angeles : John C. Brasfield Pub. Corp.
Year: 1925-
Frequency: Monthly, <Dec. 2002->; Former: Frequency varies, 1925-<Aug.
15, 1990>
Description: Began with: Vol. 1, published in 1925.; v. :; ill. ;;
28-35 cm.
Standard No: ISSN: 0003-8520; LCCN: 25-10347
Note(s): "The international magazine of fine interior design."/
Published by: Knapp Communications Corp., <Feb. 1983>-1984; by:
Architectural Digest Pub. Corp., 1985- ; by: Conde Nast Publications
Inc., <Sept. 1999-Dec. 2002>/ Description based on: Vol. 34, no. 1
(Jan./Feb. 1977); title from cover./ Latest issue consulted: Vol. 59,
no. 12 (Dec. 2002).
General Info: Other ed. in: Italian, Spanish, and French.
Class Descriptors: LC: NA730.C2
Other Titles: Architectural digest (Los Angeles, Calif. : 1925);
Archit. dig.; Architectural digest (Los Angeles, Calif.);
Architectural digest 100; AD 100; Architectural digest. The ... art
and antiques annual
Accession No: OCLC: 1481856
*****
Here is some more information on the painting, including a provenance file
and the exhibition history (from Sotheby's auction records):
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919
JEUNE FEMME EN BLEU ALLANT AU CONSERVATOIRE
New York 4,000,000-6,000,000 USD Session 1
16 Nov 98 6:30 PM
Signed with the initial
Oil on canvas
31 1/2 by 19 3/4in. 80 by 50.2cm.
Painted in 1877.
In 1877 Renoir devoted a large amount of time to organizing the Third
Impressionist Exhibition. It was here that he first exhibited his
highly acclaimed painting Bal du Moulin de la Galette (fig. 1) as well
as a large number of portraits. During this time Renoir was desperate
for financial success and acceptance in the official Salon, and he
believed that portraiture was essential to achieving that goal.
In this period, Renoir's palette became lighter and his brushwork more
delicate and lively. Combined with a strong grasp of traditional
techniques, which he had been perfecting over the previous decade, and
his inventive use of color, Renoir attained a greater maturity in his
art. Jeune femme en bleu allant au Conservatoire, which depicts a
young woman on her way to the Conservatoire, or school of the
performing arts in Paris, is an example of the direction Renoir was
moving with his art. The brushwork is free and spontaneous, giving an
impression of movement for the figure as she walks to the right.
Nonetheless, Renoir takes care to note the details of the model's
fashionable dress, feathery bonnet and loose bracelet. The collar of
her blue dress highlights her finely featured face, framed by the
delicate hat that is perched on her head. Her posture and the sweeping
strokes around her head add a sense of movement to the painting.
In 1884 Octave Mirbeau, who later owned the work, wrote: "He is truly
a painter of women, alternately gracious and moving, knowing and
simple, and always elegant, with an exquisite visual sensibility, a
touch as light as a kiss, a vision as penetrating as that of Stendhal.
Not only does he give a marvelous sense of the physique, the delicate
relief and dazzling tones of young complexions, he also gives a sense
of the form of the soul, all woman's inward musicality and bewitching
mystery. Contrary to the majority of modern painters, his figures are
not frozen by layers of paint; animated and vivacious, they sing out
the whole range of bright tones, all the melodies of color, all the
vibrations of light... I do not understand why all women do not have
their portraits painted by this exquisite artist" (quoted in N.
Wadley, Renoir, A Retrospective, New York, 1987, p. 165).
According to Renoir's biographer and friend Georges Riviere, Renoir
often used young working class models who were local to the area as he
had for his Bal du Moulin de la Galette. It is entirely possible the
model for Jeune femme en bleu allant au Conservatoire is the very same
as the young woman in the large scale painting La sortie du
Conservatoire of the same year (Barnes Foundation, Merion
Pennsylvania, fig. 2). She too carries a musical score or dramatic
script in her hands and is an aspiring singer or actress from
Montmartre. Riviere identified the woman in the Barnes Foundation
painting as Nini Lopez. While Jeune femme en bleu allant au
Conservatoire has not been identified as a study for La sortie du
Conservatoire, it is certainly an interpretation of the daily Parisian
life that Renoir was so fond of portraying.
Provenance:
Adolphe Tavernier, Paris (sold: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, March 6,
1900, no. 65)
Mme. Octave Mirbeau, Paris (acquired at the above sale)
Note (fy): Octave Mirabeau (1848-1917) was one of the leading French
novelists of his time. His wit and gift of repartee has caused him
to be comared to Oscar Wilde, his near-contemporary.
Paul Rosenberg, Paris (acquired from the above on June 6, 1932)
Marie Harriman Gallery, New York (acquired from the above)
Miriam Hopkins, New York
Carstairs Gallery, New York
Acquired by Reader's Digest in 1950
Exhibited:
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Manet and Renoir, 1934
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, French Painting 1100-1900, 1951
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., Reader's Digest Collection, 1963,
p. 29.
Tokyo, Palaceside Building, Forty Paintings from the Reader's Digest
Collection, 1966, no. 26
New York, Wildenstein & Co., Sarah Bernhardt and her Times, 1984
New York, Wildenstein & Co. (traveling exhibition), Selections from
the Reader's Digest Collection, 1985-86, pp. 56-57
Auckland City Art Gallery, The Reader's Digest Collection: Manet to
Picasso, 1989, pp. 66-67
Literature:
The Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin, December 1933, pp. 17-20
Francois Daulte, Auguste Renoir: catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre peint,
vol. I: Les Figures 1860-1890, Lausanne, 1971, no. 244, illustrated
Peter Viertel, "Miriam Hopkins, Heroine of Trouble in Paradise and
Becky Sharp on Tower Grove Road,' Architectural Digest, April 1998,
illustrated p. 213
*************
Here is some material (from the <IMDB>) on Miriam Hopkins, a former owner:
Biography for Miriam Hopkins
Birth name: Ellen Miriam Hopkins
Height: 5' 2"
_________________________
Ellen Miriam Hopkins was born in Bainbridge, Georgia on October
18, 1902. She was born into wealth and was able to attend the
finest educational institutions such as Goddard Seminary in
Plainfield, Vermont, and Syracuse University in New York State.
She received her first taste of show business when she studied
dance in New York and became a chorus girl when she was twenty.
She continued to appear in local musicals before she began
expanding her horizons by trying out dramatic roles four years
later. In 1928, Miriam was appearing in stock companies on the
East Coast. Her critic reviews were getting better after having
been vilified a couple of years earlier. In 1930, Miriam
decided to try her hand on the silver screen by signing with
Paramount Studios and won a role in FAST AND LOOSE. She was
already established on Broadway and Paramount felt they were
getting a seasoned performer after the rave reviews she had
received on Broadway. The role, where Miriam played a
rebellious girl, was a good start, particularly since this was
her debut in films. After appearing in 24 HOURS in 1931, where
she is killed by her husband, Miriam played Princess Anna in
THE SMILING LIEUTENANT opposite Maurice Chevalier. Still
considered a newcomer, Miriam displayed a talent that had all
the earmarks of stardom. She was to finish out the year by
playing Ivy Pearson in DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. Miriam began
1932 by filming WORLD AND THE FLESH which was not exactly a
box-office blockbuster. Later, she appeared in DANCERS IN THE
DARK with George Raft. The film was unexpectedly strong and
enjoyable which served as a catalyst to propel Miriam and Raft
to super stardom. In TWO KINDS OF WOMEN directed by William de
Mille, Miriam once again performed magnificently. Later that
year she played Lily Vautier in the sophisticated comedy
TROUBLE IN PARADISE. A film that should have been nominated for
an Academy Award, it has lasted through the years as a
masterpiece in comedy. Even today film buffs and historians
rave about it. Miriam's brilliant performance in 1933's DESIGN
FOR LIVING propelled her to the top of Paramount's salary
scale. Later that year Miriam played the title role in THE
STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE which Paramount was forced to tone down
because of its violence and the character being raped. It was
passed by the Hays Office and despite it being watered down,
was still a box-office smash. In 1934, Miriam filmed ALL OF ME
which was less than well-received at the ticket counters in
theaters in the country. By 1938, the country was abuzz as to
who would play Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's GONE WITH
THE WIND, which was to begin filming the following year. Miriam
wanted the coveted spot, especially when, she herself, was a
Southern accented native of Georgia. Unfortunately for Miriam,
as we all know, she didn't win the role. As a matter of fact,
the only movie she appeared in in 1939 was THE OLD MAID. By
this time the roles were only trickling in for her. With the
slowdown in film work, Miriam found herself returning to the
stage. She made two films in 1940, none in 1941, and one in
1942 and 1943, respectively. The stage was her work now.
However in 1949, she received the role of Lavinia Penniman in
THE HEIRESS. Miriam made three films in all of the 1950's, but
she was making appearances in television programs during this
time. In 1968, Miriam made her final big screen showing in
SAVAGE INTRUDER. Nine days before her birthday, on October 9,
1972, Miriam died of a heart attack in New York City. She was
69.
_________________________
Born in Savannah, Georgia and brought up in nearby Bainbridge,
Miriam Hopkins spent most of her formative years with her
maternal grandmother. She received her secondary education in
Barre, Vermont and then Syracuse University. Upon graduation
she went to New York to become a ballet dancer, but gravitated
towards Broadway revues and vaudeville instead. After ten years
on the stage as a successful actress, she joined Paramount in
1930 and became one of Hollywood's top-ranking stars. She
returned to the stage from time to time, as her movie career
slowed in the forties. During the fifties she added television
to her schedule, guesting on dramatic series, including
"Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits". She died in 1972.
by Herman Seifer
_________________________
Spouse
Raymond B. Brock (23 October 1945 - 1951) (divorced)
Anatole Litvak (4 September 1937 - 11 October 1939) (divorced)
Austin Parker (1931 - 1932) (divorced)
Brandon Peters (11 May 1926 - June 1931) (divorced)
_________________________
Trivia: Adopted a baby boy in 1932.
_________________________
Quote:
"I'm a bad judge of a play or film. I turned down 'It Happened
One Night'. It won Claudette Colbert an Oscar. I said it was
just a silly comedy."
_________________________
Salary: Smiling Lieutenant, The (1931) $1,500/week
_________________________
Biography from Leonard Maltin's <Movie Encyclopedia>:
A brittle, fascinating performer, Miriam Hopkins projected
great talent but little warmth from the screen. Still, her best
performances from the 1930s hold up exceptionally well. A
chorus girl from 1921, she went legit in the mid 1920s and
developed a reputation as a solid Broadway actress. In the
Hollywood rush to sign theater stars for the talkies, Hopkins
contracted with Paramount in 1930. Her first picture was the
deadly dull Fast and Loose but it was followed by a nearly
unbroken string of first-rate films. In Ernst Lubitsch's The
Smiling Lieutenant (1931), Claudette Colbert showed Hopkins how
to "Jazz Up Your Lingerie" to win the heart of Maurice
Chevalier. Hopkins played a reluctant live-in girlfriend to
Fredric March's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) in the Rouben
Mamoulian classic; her uninhibited sensuality as Ivy wasn't
lost on audiences any more than it was on Hyde. She played a
delectable jewel thief in Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (also
1932), the apex of a free-love romantic triangle in Design for
Living and a notso-reluctant kidnap victim in The Story of
Temple Drake (both 1933), based on William Faulkner's
"Sanctuary."
Hopkins was ideally cast in the title role of Mamoulian's Becky
Sharp (1935), playing Thackeray's selfish heroine in the first
full Technicolor feature and getting Oscarnominated in the
bargain, and then moved to Samuel Goldwyn Productions, where
after Barbary Coast (1935) and the outstanding These
Three(1936), her career began to falter. By the time Hopkins
arrived at Warner Bros. in 1939 she was reduced to playing
second fiddle to Bette Davis in The Old Maid (1939) and Old
Acquaintance (1943), and for publicity purposes the studio
spread tales of great rivalry between the two ladies. (The
climactic scene in the latter film, in which Davis shakes the
living daylights out of her costar, was gleefully anticipated
by audiences.)
The Lady With Red Hair (1940) offered a vehicle for Hopkins
alone, but the biopic of actress Mrs. Leslie Carter did little
to spark audience enthusiasm. She seemed ill at ease as a
saloon gal matching wits with Errol Flynn in Virginia City
(1940). Hopkins retreated to the theater in the mid 1940s, but
came back to the screen periodically as a character actress,
notably in William Wyler's The Heiress (1949) and The
Children's Hour (1962), the latter based on Lillian Hellman's
lesbian-themed play, and a sentimental remake for Hopkins, who
had starred in Wyler's softpeddled These Three. Her final film
appearance on-screen was in The Chase (1966), a multi-star
monument to thicksliced method acting. The Comeback offered her
one final starring screen role in 1969, but the well-worn tale
of an aging star was never released.
*********