Adrien Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès

The painting is in good condition, as is the canvas, which is clear. No hole is detected either. Upon close observation, a minor indentation can be seen on the lower middle (near the bottom edge), as are a few tiny, minute flecks of paint loss, which only occurs on this area. Paint layers and impasto are intact and in stable condition. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals some spots of retouching on the lower middle (near the bottom edge, and towards the center, on the second figure in the foreground). The colours in the catalogue illustration is close to the palette of the actual work, although the painting is more vibrant with a more evocative texture in reality.
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... I intended to surround myself with nothing but beauty. I employed five house servants for Pollok... I forbade them to work in the late afternoon, during those hours I wanted them to sit around in their beautiful sarongs, weaving fine fabrics.

ADRIEN-JEAN LE MAYEUR DE MERPRÈS QUOTED IN DRS JOP UBBENS AND CATHINKA HUIZING, ADRIEN-JEAN LE MAYEUR DE MERPRÈS: PAINTER-TRAVELLER, WIJK EN AALBURG, AMSTERDAM, 1995, PAGE 119

 

Bali, to Le Mayeur, is the fulfilment of a lifelong quest. His pursuit of the perfect sunlight and beauty brought him across Europe, Africa, French Polynesia, and Asia. Although he produced a beautiful body of work during his travels, Le Mayeur was restless, kept those sojourns temporary and never settled. Bali was the place where he found peace and produced enthralling masterpieces that would continue to inspire in the present generation. He lived in Bali for more than a quarter of a century, from 1932 until the final few months of his life, and his name became synonymous with the most sublime impressionist renderings of tropical splendour.

The delicate contour of the female form was always the fundamental focus in Le Mayeur's paintings. The Legong dancer Ni Pollok became his favourite muse and after their marriage in 1935, his only model. She embodied all the iconic elements of the Balinese maiden, who, as Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias described so articulately, "...have small but well-developed bodies, with a peculiar anatomical structure of simple, solid masses reminiscent of Egyptian and Mycenaean sculptures: wide shoulders tapering down in unbroken lines to flexible waists and narrow hips; strong backs, small heads, and firm, full breasts. Their slender arms and long legs end in delicate hands and feet... Their faces have well-balanced features, expressive eyes, small noses and full mouths..." (Miguel Covarrubias, Island of Bali, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1937, p. 12)

The present work, which the artist titled Atelier de Tissage (Weaving Atelier), illustrates the blissful description of female beauty most aptly. Four young maidens - all of them Ni Pollok - are depicted seated gracefully on the floor of an open-air, but sheltered, loggia, working on their looms. Two weavers occupy the foreground while the other two fill the background, their backs against the bright warmth of the sunlight. The rosy sunset glow perfectly highlights Ni Pollok's graceful silhouette: her square shoulders, shapely arms, narrow waist, and dainty feet. Facing them with her back against the viewer, the figure on the left in the foreground anchors the composition. The swanlike column of her neck on a sculpted bare back is visible up front and the perspective enables her to appear as the largest figure to the viewer - as if we are catching a glimpse of the scene from directly behind her. In one deft move, Le Mayeur had created an intimate and engaging ambience that transported his audience to the idyllic paradise which he had created for himself.

Atelier de Tissage (Weaving Atelier) belongs to a series of paintings that Le Mayeur executed in Bali in the 1940s, a crucial period in which Le Mayeur forged his definitive style, characterised by thicker paint layers, the application of impastos and evocative brush strokes. By the time Le Mayeur executed the present painting, his palette had veered away from cool pastel hues and was dominated by rich shades of vermillion, pink, tangerine and leafy green that complemented the earthy and sun-drenched tones of a tropical island. The warm palette, textured surface and intimate composition represented Le Mayeur's early thrill with Bali and expressed his pleasure at discovering their way of life.

Atelier de Tissage is more than a sublime work of art; it narrates a cherished memory; it portrays an ideal that was sought and found; it speaks of a silent hope, enduring and untainted by the passage of time; it captures a fleeting moment that will never return. The world that Le Mayeur lived in may have ceased to exist, but seeing it immortalised through his eyes, one could not help believe that it still does. An impressionist reminds us that beauty is timeless, and in return, humanity's veneration of beauty will endure and will inspire us to live, to dream, and to love.