Henri Edmond Cross

Galerie Druet, Paris (acquired from the artist in 1905)

Félix Fénéon, Paris (sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente Fénéon, December 4, 1941, lot 43)

Private Collection, Canada (sold: Sotheby's New York, May 9, 1989, lot 27)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

 

Paris, Société des Artistes Indépendants, 1902, no. 479

Paris, Galerie Druet, H. E. Cross, 1905, no. 10

Berlin, Elften Ausstellung der Berliner Secession, 1906, no. 51

Paris, Galerie Dru, H. E. Cross, 1927, no. 37

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, H. E. Cross, 1937, no. 15

Paris, Palais de la Découverte, Exposition Internationale, La Science et l'Art, 1937, section I, classe I

 

"H. E. Cross," Beaux-Arts, Paris, April 16, 1937, p. 1

Galerie Aktuaryus, Galerie und Sammler,  Zürich, October-November 1937, illustrated p. 155

Isabelle Compin, H. E. Cross, Paris, 1964, no. 73, catalogued p. 164 (not illustrated)

Very good condition. Original canvas. Under ultra-violet light there are numerous scattered spots of inpainting along the beach at the center and left of the center running mostly horizontally. There also appears to be 1 small spot on inpainting in the boat. The rest of canvas: the sea and sky show no evidence of restoration other than a few minor specks at the upper right edge.
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.

Cross painted this scene of a fisherman and his fishing boat most likely near his home in Saint Clair in 1899.   The composition epitomizes the Divisionist style, with its use of opposing colors to capture the intensity of the Mediterranean sun.  From the early 1890s until his death in 1910, Cross was interested in exploring the nuances of light and color with a precision that the Impressionists had never achieved. In this picture, the modulation of color, the flatness of the forms, and the purity with which Cross applied each dab of paint all characterize Divisionism and the Neo-Impressionist style.  Neo-Impressionism, a movement that evolved from the Impressionists' emphasis on light and color, was rooted in the color theories of Eugène Michel Chevreul, a French chemist whose studies influenced the work of Cross and Georges Seurat. In the mid-1880s Seurat expounded upon Chevreul's teachings in his writings and his numerous studies for Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte.  His developments in this area influenced artists, including Cross, Theo van Rysselberghe and Paul Signac, to incorporate these pseudo-scientific principles into their own painting in the 1890s.

Writing of Cross' paintings in the spring of 1907, Maurice Denis explained that the artist, "does his utmost to imagine harmonies equivalent to sunlight, and to institute a style of pure colour [...] The sun is not for him a phenomenon which makes everything white, but is a source of harmony which hots up nature's colours, authorizes the most heightened colour scale, and provides the subject for all sorts of colour fantasies" (quoted in John House, Post-Impressionism: Cross-currents in European painting (exhibition catalogue), The Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1979, p. 61).