Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris & New York (acquired from the artist in March 1890)

Galerie Tanner, Zurich (acquired from the above in June 1929)

Bruno Stahl, Berlin (placed in storage at the Wildenstein Gallery, Paris)

Confiscated with other artworks belonging to Georges Wildenstein from the gallery by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) in occupied Paris and transferred to the Jeu de Paume, Paris

Transferred to the Buxheim monastery near Memmingen, Germany on 15th January 1943

Repatriated to France on 28th December 1945

Restituted to Georges Wildenstein on 21st March 1947 and returned to Bruno Stahl

Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York (acquired from the above in January 1949)

Mr & Mrs Charles W. Engelhard, Jr., New Jersey (acquired from the above in 1956)

Estate of Mrs Charles W. Engelhard (by descent from the above. Sold: Christie's, New York, 4th November 2004, lot 110)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Tableaux, pastels et dessins par Renoir, 1920, no. 68

Houston, Allied Arts Association, Masterpieces through Six Centuries, 1952, illustrated in the catalogue

Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Renoir. Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, Paris, 2009, vol. II, no. 1442, illustrated p. 474

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, attached to the artist's board along all four edges. There are remnants of paper from previous mounting along all four edges. Apart from a 1cm. tear towards the bottom of the left edge and some slight discolouration to the paper, this work is in very good condition. The pastel is fresh and unfaded. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although slightly fresher in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Renoir was among the most eminent portraitists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, celebrated above all for his captivating portraits of women. Executed circa 1890, Femme à la toque noire is a striking example of his supreme skill, perfectly capturing the poise and energy of his young subject and rendering her in the soft palette and gentle forms that characterise his best work. Reviewing Renoir’s paintings at an exhibition in 1885, Emile Verhaeren described ‘an utterly new vision, a quite unexpected interpretation of reality to solicit our imagination. Nothing is fresher, more alive… than these bodies and faces as he portrays them. Where have they come from, those light and vibrating tones that caress arms and necks and shoulders, and give a sensation of soft flesh… The backgrounds are suffusions of air and light; they are vague because they must not distract us’ (E. Verhaeren, quoted in Nicholas Wadley (ed.), Renoir. A Retrospective, New York, 1987, pp. 166-167). In Femme à la toque noire the fresh light tones of the background serve to add extra definition to the central figure, emphasising Renoir’s careful observation of his model’s features and fashionable attire.  

Whilst Renoir’s work of the early 1880s had been defined by his return to a classically-inspired and more formal style that reasserted the importance of the drawn line in his work, by 1890 he had returned to a warmer and more delicate handling. In Femme à la toque noire this new warmth is emphasised by Renoir’s exquisite use of the pastel. Renoir worked in this medium throughout his life and its powdery effervescence was well-suited to his singular style. Pastel allowed him to reconcile the fresh spontaneity afforded by drawing, with the colour that was so fundamental to his aesthetic. François Daulte suggests: ‘If he frequently used that medium to depict those near and dear to him, it was because pastel, which combines color with line, gave him the possibility of working rapidly to capture in all their vividness the rapid flash of intelligence and the fleeting show of emotion’ (F. Daulte, Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Water-colours, Pastels, and Drawings in Colour, London, 1959, p. 10). In the present work Renoir’s choice of medium imbues the painting with spontaneous intimacy and brings a fresh vivacity to his subject.