Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Sacha Guitry, Paris (acquired by 1953)
Private Collection (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 28, 1995, lot 133)
Acquired at the above sale

Sacha Guitry, Cent merveilles choisies par Sacha Guitry, Paris, 1954, illustrated n.p. 
Alain Decaux, Sacha Guitry, Cinquante ans d'occupation, Paris, 1993, illustrated p. 114
Jean Pierre Bouyxou, "La Guitrymania submerge Paris" in Paris Match, November 25, 1993, illustrated in a photograph of Sacha Guitry in his home
Guy Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Renoir, Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. II, Paris, 2009, no. 1256, illustrated p. 355

Canvas is lined and the edges are reinforced with tape. Surface, especially in the figure's face, is richly textured. A few spots of craqueleure, most noticeable in the figure's forehead. One pindot loss to the dark pigment of the figure's coat towards lower left corner. Under UV light a few hairline strokes of inpainting are visible in the figure's hair towards center and in the tie of his cravat, otherwise fine. This work is in good condition.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Famed for his salons and revolutionary Symbolist poetry, Stéphane Mallarmé is depicted serenely and contemplatively by his friend and frequent salon guest, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Mallarmé’s Symbolist writing and fin de siècle style anticipated fusions between poetry and other art forms, and he is credited for inspiring Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism and Surrealism. Critic Barbara Johnson explains Mallarmé’s significant influence on art in multiple media: “It was largely by learning the lesson of Mallarmé that critics like Roland Barthes came to speak of 'the death of the author' in the making of literature. Rather than seeing the text as the emanation of an individual author's intentions, structuralists and deconstructors followed the paths and patterns of the linguistic signifier, paying new attention to syntax, spacing, intertextuality, sound, semantics, etymology, and even individual letters” (Barbara Johnson, "Translator's Note to Stéphane Mallarmé" in Divagations, Cambridge, 2007, p. 301).

As Mallarmé experimented with language and emphasized form over content for his work, his contemporaries who were painters, who frequented his weekly salons, similarly dismissed the academic styles of their predecessors in favor of using their medium with greater expressiveness, as well represented in the present work. Renoir’s vigorous brushwork for this portrait is remarkable and effectively evokes the likeness of the sitter. Another 1892 portrait of Mallarmé by Renoir, for which the present work may have been the preparatory painting, currently hangs in the Château de Versailles.