Paul Gauguin

(probably) Julien-François Tanguy, Paris (by 1894)

Sale: Vente au profit de Mme veuve Tanguy, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 2, 1894, lot 26

Ambroise Vollard, Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Gaston Lévy, Paris (acquired from the above on October 13, 1894)

Dr. Georges Viau, Paris (sold: Durand-Ruel, Paris, March 4, 1907)

Marquise de Ganay (acquired at the above sale)

Comte François de Ganay, Paris

Galerie André Weil, Paris (by 1951)

Wildenstein Gallery, New York

Laurence K. & Lorna J. Marshall, Cambridge (by 1958)

Acquired as a gift from the above in 1964

Paris, Galerie André Weil, Gauguin et ses amis, 1951, no. 18

Munich, Haus der Kunst, Paul Gauguin, 1960, no. 17

Vienna, Österreichische galerie im Obernen Belvedere, Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903, 1960, no. 4

Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin, vol. 1, Paris, 1964, no. 135, illustrated p. 152 (titled Sous-bois en Normandie)

Merete Bodelsen, "Early Impressionist Sales, 1874-94 in light of some unpublished 'procès verbaux'," The Burlington Magazine, London, June 1968, no. 45, listed pp. 347-48.

Giorgio M. Sugana, ed., L'Opera completa di Gauguin, Milan, 1972, no. 16, illustrated p. 87 (titled Bosco in Normandia)

Alexandra R. Murphy, European Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue, Medford, 1985, illustrated p. 112 (titled Forest Interior)

Daniel Wildenstein, Gauguin, A Savage in the Making: Catalogue raisonné of the Paintings, 1873-1888, vol. 1, New York, 2002, no. 135, illustrated p. 153 (with the measurements 55.5 by 46 cm)

Richard R. Bretell & Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark, Gauguin and Impressionism (exhibition catalogue), New Haven and London, 2005, fig. 160, illustrated in color p. 208 (titled Sunken Path, Wooded Rise)

Excellent condition. Original canvas. Under ultra-violet light, no retouching is visible. There is also a horizontal patterns of craquelure, and some slight rippling to the canvas along the vertical edge that is hardly visible.
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.

The wooded interior of Normandy provided a richly verdant subject for Gauguin's landscape of 1884.  Unlike the Impressionists themselves, Gauguin's vision extended beyond scenes of Parisian modern culture and the glory of French agricultural productivity - a vision which would ultimately define the Post-Impressionist movement and take him further afield in the later years of his career.  In his subjects of this period we can see his escapist inclinations beginning to develop, as his painting focuses on the natural world, free from the anxiety of modern European life.  While the plein-air subject and brushwork in this picture is typical of the Impressionist style and shows the influence that Camille Pissarro had on the artist's painting at this time, Gauguin's palette of rich greens, blues and orange points towards the colors that would dominate his pictures of Tahiti in the 1890s.

The first owner of this picture is believed to be Julien-François Tanguy, a close friend of the artist to whom Gauguin entrusted his paintings for sale upon his departure to Tahiti in 1891.  After Tanguy's death in 1894, members of his circle organized an auction to benefit his widow, and Chemin creux dans une pente boisée was included in that sale.  It is believed that this painting was taken from Tanguy's stock and titled Les Sapins.

The first American owners of this picture were Laurence K. & Lorna J. Marshall, an extraordinary couple from Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Lorna began her career as an anthropologist when she was already in her 50s, and she moved her family to Africa where she studied the customs of the Kalahari Bushmen (located in what is now Namibia, Botswana and parts of South Africa).  Laurence, who had retired as head of the Raytheon Corporation in 1950, joined his wife in the Kalahari, and assisted the local people in starting a fine-wool industry. The couple eventually returned to New England, where Lorna died in 2002 at the age of 103.  Between their frequent trips to Africa in the 1960s, they donated this painting to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.