Henri le Sidaner

Galleries Maurice Sternberg, Chicago (acquired by 1968)
Private Collection, USA
Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 26, 2008, lot 458
Acquired at the above sale

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Tenth Annual International Exhibition, 1905, n.n.
Prague, Vystavy Manes, Henri Le Sidaner-Louis Dejean, 1907, n.n.
Brussels, Galerie de l'Art Belge, Rétrospective Le Sidaner, 1951, no. 23
Paris, Galerie Brame & Lorenceau, Tables et fenêtres, 1952, no. 29
Chicago, Galleries Maurice Sternberg, Exposition Le Sidaner, 1968, no. 29, illustrated in the catalogue
Texas, Amarillo Art Center, Early French Moderns, 1982, no. 28

Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner, Le Sidaner, L'Oeuvre peint et gravé, Paris, 1989, no. 188, illustrated p. 98

Work is in very good condition. The impasto is well preserved and the pigments remain bright and fresh. The canvas is unlined. A partial signature is indistinctly visible in the lower right corner. Scattered stable hairline craquelure is faintly visible throughout. There is a small spot of paint loss in the upper right hand corner. Under UV light: original pigments fluoresce but no inpainting is apparent.
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.
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The theme of nature and gardens is a dominant force in both Le Sidaner’s life and oeuvre. Influenced by both the Symbolists and Impressionist masters of the late nineteenth century, the artist is known for brushy, atmospheric images of gardens and towns during various hours of the day. For Le Sidaner, the canvas was a medium on which he reshaped his visual experiences and recreated places imbued with his own emotions and artistic poetry. The present work, painted in 1905, depicts a sleeping baby beside a window overlooking a picturesque garden. The scene is likely set in the small, sleepy historical village of Gerberoy where the artist moved in 1901. The tranquility of the picture is characteristic of Le Sidaner’s paintings, all of which convey a quiet, serene quality reminiscent of a dream.

Denis Laoureux writes of Le Sidaner’s interest in light, color and nature: “Early in the new century Le Sidaner worked with a synthesis of the Symbolist celebration of the infinite pulsing in all things in nature and a flickering brushwork inspired by Impressionism. A Symbolist at heart, but an Impressionist as far as handling was concerned, Le Sidaner devoted himself to a group of animist works showing interiors that were empty but invested with the feeling of a presence filled with the light of twilight. Paintings he did in 1903-04 with their empty chair and window opening on to a garden, express that synthesis of the recent recollection of Symbolism and a second look at Impressionism” (Deutscher Kunstverlag, ed., Henri Le Sidaner, A Magical Impressionist, Chemnitz, 2009, p. 70). Furthermore, Karin Sagner compares the artist’s fixation with his garden to that of Claude Monet: “Monet and Le Sidaner knew each other personally, and Le Sidaner liked to recall a visit to Giverny, which is 70 kilometers north-east of Gerberoy. The ‘master’ invited him there and showed him his water garden, which was famous even then and also admired by Marcel Proust. That garden was planned down to the very last detail, becoming itself a kind of artist’s palette. Le Sidaner wished to design his garden in a similar way, so as to be able to achieve the desired light effects. He then found something in Gerberoy, a small town consisting of just a few houses. With its lanes and wells, late medieval collegiate church, rural surroundings and the property that Le Sidaner rented in 1901 and purchased three years later, Gerberoy provided the artist with key motifs for almost 40 years” (ibid., p. 40).