Georges Seurat

Paul Alexis, Paris
Alfred Lombard, Boulogne-Billancourt
Acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1950

New York, Galerie Durand-Ruel and National Academy of Design, Works in Oil and Pastel by Impressionists of Paris, 1885-86, no. 133
Paris, Pavillion de la Ville de Paris, IIIème Salon des Artistes Indépendants, 1887, no. 447
Brussels, Musée Royal de Peinture, IXème Exposition des XX- Rétrospective Georges Seurat incorporé à l'Exposition, 1892, no. 1
Paris, Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Georges Seurat, 1936, no. 39 

Henri Dorra & John Rewald, Seurat, l'œuvre peint. Biographie et catalogue critique, Paris, 1959, no. 150, illustrated p. 176
César M. de Hauke, Seurat et son œuvre, Paris, 1961, vol. I, no. 153, illustrated p. 100
André Chastel & Fiorella Minervino, Tout l'œuvre peint de Seurat, Paris, 1973, no. 153, illustrated p. 103
Paul Smith, Seurat and the Avant-Garde, Singapore, 1997, no. 87, illustrated in colour p. 74

The panel is sound. UV examination reveals no evidence of retouching though the exposed wood panel does fluoresce. There is a horizontal hairline split at the lower right corner about 5cm in length and a faint vertical indentation approximately 5cm in from the left edge. There are regularly spaced pinholes to all four edges. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition. Colours: overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue.
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.

In the summer of 1885, Seurat spent several weeks in Grandcamp, his first of many summer visits to Northern France to paint the Channel coast.  By undertaking a series of marine scenes, Seurat extended his command of traditional subjects and situated himself firmly within the French modern landscape tradition, where the nation's ports and coasts had been regularly celebrated by artists such as Corot, Boudin, Monet and Cézanne. 

The present work is a study for the larger canvas L'Échouage à Grandcamp, a work displaying the small brushstrokes of contrasting colours that would characterise Seurat's Pointillist masterpiece Un Dimanche d'été a l'Ile de La Grande Jatte (1884-86).  Unlike the subdued tones of its sister canvas, the colours in this spirited panel appear saturated and vibrant due to the larger, balayé brushwork. Seurat frequently used the warm brown tone of his panels as a constituent colour in his studies, and here the exposed wood pervades the scene to provide the work with a rich compositional unity.

Trois bateaux et un marin first resided in the collection of Paul Alexis, a Parisian writer and anarchist who hailed Seurat's work as revolutionary in its sincerity and truthfulness. Alexis had been keen on Seurat since 1884, when the artist was one of the founding members of the Société des artistes indépendants. Alexis was so inspired by Seurat's perceived rebellion against the traditional bourgeois Salon that he published a column on 2nd May 1886 stating that he would not be reviewing the latest Salon opening but instead preferred to contemplate his own collection, particularly this sweet [marine] by the violently sincere Seurat (Paul Smith, Seurat and the Avant-Garde, Singapore, 1997, p. 75).