Gino Severini

The artist,
by whom gifted to Dr Pierre Declide, Paris & Civray,
Private Collection, Paris (the family of the above),
sale, Paris, Artcurial, 20 November 2009, lot 42

Civray, Association 'Les amis du Pays Civraysien', Exposition des œuvres réalisées à Civray par Gino Severini, 1983;
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie & Rovereto, MART, Gino Severini 1883-1966, futuriste et néoclassique, 2011-12, no. 6, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (titled Autoritratto con panama)

F. Bellonzi & T. Fiori, Archivi des Divisionismo, Rome, 1969, vol. II, illustrated pl. 2743;
P. Pacini, ‘Percorso prefuturista di Gino Severini. IV’, in Critica d'Arte, March-April 1975, XIL, no. 140, discussed pp. 47-60;
M. Faggiolo Dell'Arco, ‘Guida all'opera di Gino Severini’, in Catalogo dell'Arte Moderna Italiana, no. 17, Turin, 1981, mentioned p. 451;
M. Faggiolo Dell'Arco, Tutta la vita di un pittore, in Gino Severini, prima e dopo l'opera. Documenti, opere e immagini, Cortona, 1983, mentioned p. 18;
G. Dauxerre, ‘Severini’, in Bulletin des Amis du pays Civraisien, no. ‘spéciale’, Civray, 1986, illustrated fig. 8;
D. Fonti, Gino Severine, Catalogo ragionato, Milan, 1988, no. 55, illustrated p. 89
G. Severini & J. Franchina (trans.), G.Severini, The life of a painter, Princeton, 1995, illustrated fig. 10  

The following condition report was prepared by Jane McAusland on 1 December 2017. Support Severini has used a sheet of buff paper of conservation quality to support this delicate pastel. At present it is attached at the centre of the drawing on the verso to a board, probably with self-adhesive tape which is possible to remove. On both centre right and left extreme sides there are two very small areas of loss caused by nails which probably were securing the work into a frame. Artist pinholes show on all corners and also in the centre of the right and left-hand sides. There is a line of mount stain at the foot approximately 0.5cm into the composition. Medium The medium is in a very fresh and bright condition, though there is some slight rubbing at the edges in places. Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions. JANE McAUSLAND
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.

Gino Severini moved to Paris in November 1906 in the hope of establishing himself in what was then the undisputed capital of the arts. Arriving with few connections in the city, little money, and almost no French, he was nonetheless able to make the acquaintance of many of the leading avant-garde artists, a number of them inhabitants of the notorious Bateau-Lavoir in Montmatre. A little while later he was introduced to a dentist called Pierre Declide, originally from Civray in the centre-west of France, whom he gave a portrait of himself in exchange for a dental filling he was unable to pay for.  Aware of his financial difficulties Declide offered Severini a temporary solution, 'When things are going badly for you, close up your studio and come stay with me. You will always be welcome in my home.'¹ In due course Severini took up Declide’s offer, and ended up staying at his family’s house in Civray for three months. Civray was a place of great beauty and respite, Severini could work on his art while enjoying the comfort of the Declide’s hospitality, not least the affection and encouragement provided by Pierre’s mother, Marie. Declide’s father, operated a succesful tailoring business in the building adjacent to his house, was also very generous and arranged some new suits for Severini so that he might attend the smarter salons of Civray. During the time he spent out in the countryside he developed his artistic aims with the utmost clarity: 'my walks did not distract me from my work, nor from trying to solve my particular problems. In landscapes I was sometimes able to find a way to reconcile my ideas about pure and separated colours with those of a broad synthetic and extremely expressive form.'² Alongside a couple of large-scale landscapes, Severini also completed portraits of Pierre Declide and family, as well as the present work which he dedicated to Pierre, all executed in the post-Impressionist manner, though as Daniele Fonti notes, it is this pastel which exhibits the greatest freedom of expression and wellbeing.

Autoportrait à la pipe belongs to a period of radical development in Italian art. Between 1907 and 1910, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini were all engaged in the final elaboration of the Neo-Impressionist style that would come to be known as Divisionism and eventually lead to their invention of Futurism. Monumental in scale and dynamic in conception, their paintings introduced a unique colour-driven counterpoint to the sort of pointillism established in France by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, yet in works such as Autoportrait à la pipe Severini’s attention to the actual quality of light is far greater than his concern for the more technical aspects of divisionism demanded by his French counterparts. Shortly after the present work was completed Severini returned to Paris, and though he would periodically go back to Civray, he would shortly move entirely away from his rural vision of neo-impressionism and fully embrace Futurism and its celebration of urban modernity.

^1. G. Severini, The Life of a Painter: The Autobiography of Gino Severini, trans. J. Franchina, Princeton, 1995, p. 49.

^2. G. Severini, op.cit., 1995, p. 49