Henri le Sidaner

Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal
Acquired from the above

This work is in good condition. The canvas is unlined, under UV the U-shaped repair fluoresces in lower right, about three inches long. There is a scratch to the surface from near the center left edge which extends down to just right of the signature.
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Capturing the play of evening light on the ancient walls and bridge of Chisson, Le Sidaner musically evokes a scene of peaceful, contemplative reverie in the present work. The absence of figures allows one's imagination to awaken; the viewer's gaze lingers on the connecting bridge, pausing to wonder what figure might emerge to join the silent meditation.

Le Sidaner's compositions are often considered in musical terms, the rhythm of juxtaposed dabs of colour creating a visual symphony conducting its own chords and tempo. Always in a 'minor key,' its subtle harmonies are seen to evoke a wistful mood that is exacerbated, as Paul Signac notes, by the absence of figural representation: 'His oeuvre displays a taste for tender, soft and silent atmospheres. Gradually, he even went so far as to eliminate all human presence from his pictures, as if he feared that the slightest human form might disturb their muffled silence' (quoted in Yann Farinaux-Le-Sidaner, Le Sidaner, L'œuvre peint et gravé, Milan, 1989, p. 31). Instead, the artist focused on the architectural and domestic environments, as well as their accoutrements man creates for himself. 'He considered that the silent harmony of things is enough to evoke the presence of those who live among them. Indeed, such presences are felt throughout his works. Deserted they may be, but never empty' (C. Mauclair, Henri Le Sidaner, Paris, 1928, p. 12).

Peaceful panoramas such as the present work epitomise Le Sidaner's œuvre. Developing his distinctive idiom during the 1890s under the influence of Symbolism, he found in the tenets of Neo-Impressionism a suitably harmonious expression of his vision.