Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Otto Wertheimer, Paris
Acquis du précédent en 1954 par le père du propriétaire actuel

Ambroise Vollard, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paintings, Pastels & Drawings, San Francisco, 1989, no. 174, reproduit p. 44 

Executed on cream laid paper, not laid down, attached along all four edges to a stretcher. There are watermarks inherent to the paper towards the upper and lower right corners. Apart from a 3cm. repaired tear to the lower left corner, some handling marks to the periphery of the sheet and some minor rippling of the paper to the lower left corner due to the mounting, this work is in good condition.
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signed 'Renoir' (lower right), sanguine and chalk on paper. Executed circa 1913-14.

 

Cette œuvre sur papier est une étude préparatoire pour Le Jugement de Paris, une huile sur toile, achevée par Renoir entre 1913 et 1914, aujourd'hui sur les cimaises du Musée d'Art d'Hiroshima. Cette étude représente l'une des figures centrales de la composition définitive : Aphrodite, dénudée, dont le bras droit, tendu en avant, s'apprête à recevoir la "pomme dorée" des mains de Pâris. Renoir cherche ici à traduire la beauté captivante de la déesse, à célébrer la volupté de ses formes, la sensualité de ses gestes et la lasciveté de sa pose. Le style enlevé de cette œuvre,  les traits de sanguine aussi rapides qu'emphatiques, trahissent une obsession de l'artiste pour la forme et le contour, et confèrent à cette œuvre une immédiate et vibrante intensité.

 

This work on paper is a preparatory study for Le Jugement de Paris, an oil on canvas executed by Renoir between 1913 and 1914, today housed in the Art Museum of Hiroshima.  This study represents one of the central figures of the definitive composition: Aphrodite, undressed, with her right arm stretched forward, ready to receive the "golden apple".  Renoir here strives to translate the captivating beauty of the goddess, to celebrate her voluptuous form, the sensuality of her gestures and the lasciviousness of her pose.  The energetic style of this work, whose sanguine lines are as rapid as they are expressive, betray the artist's obsession with form and contour, and give the work an immediate and vibrant intensity.