Henri Edmond Cross

Harry, Graf von Kessler, Weimar (commissioned from the artist in 1902)

Galerie de L’Elysée (Alex Maguy), Paris (acquired by 1946)

Josef Rosensaft, New York (sold: Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York, 11th May 1977, lot 20)

Abigail Sheridan (purchased at the above sale)

Galerie Schmit, Paris

Private Collection

Paris, Sociéte des Artistes Indépendants, 1903, no. 575

Nice, Palais de la Méditerranée, Grands Peintres contemporains, 1946, no. 8, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Le bain and with incorrect measurements)

New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Seurat and his Friends, 1953, no. 62 (titled Bathers)

Paris, Galerie Schmit, Maîtres français XIXe-XXe siècles, 1989, no. 15, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Charles Guérin, ‘Salon des Indépendants’, in L’Ermitage, 1903, vol. 1, mentioned p. 316

Lucie Cousturier, ‘H. E. Cross’, in L’Art Décoratif, March 1913, illustrated p. 120 (titled Baignade)

Adolphe Basler & Charles Kunstler, La Peinture Indépendante en France, de Monet à Bonnard, Paris, 1929, illustrated pl. 37 (titled L’heure du bain)

Lucie Cousturier, H. E. Cross, Paris, 1932, illustrated pl. 2 (titled Le Bain)

Claude Roger-Marx, Le Paysage français de Corot à nos jours, Paris, 1952, illustrated (titled Méditerranée)

Isabelle Compin, H. E. Cross, Paris, 1964, no. 97, illustrated p. 192

Neo-Impressionism (exhibition catalogue), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1968, mentioned p. 40

Jean Sutter, Les Néo-Impressionnistes, Neuchâtel, 1970, mentioned p. 72

Cross et le néo-impressionnisme (exhibition catalogue), Musée de la Chartreuse de Douai, Douai, 1998, illustrated in colour p. 40

Sabine Walter, 'Die Sammlung Harry Graf Kessler in Weimar und Berlin', in Die Moderne und ihre Sammler, Berlin, 2001, mentioned pp. 70 & 88

The canvas is lined, and has been placed on a new stretcher. There is some stable craquelure in the dense foliage on the left of the composition. There are small scattered paint losses in some areas, including the three central figures' hair, with some associated retouchings. Apart from some further minor retouchings in the sky and the sea which appear to be covering the artist's original ground and are visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in good, stable condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although more vibrant in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted in 1902, La plage ombragée is a masterful evocation of the Mediterranean landscape that beautifully illustrates Cross’s exploration of light and colour. Cross moved to the Mediterranean coast in 1891 in the hope that the warmer climate would prove a healthier alternative to Paris, and the following year he was joined there by Signac. Both artists were immediately captivated by the new intensity of light and colour that they encountered. These qualities were particularly suited to the scientific approach to colour favoured by the Neo-Impressionists, but the physical qualities of this southern landscape also provided inspiration for both artists. The present work is a careful blend of sunlight and shade, a contrast that both artists explored repeatedly (figs. 2 & 3). In La plage ombragée the chromatic complexities found in the variation between the dazzling light of the water and the shade of the pines make this an exquisite example of Cross’s work on this theme.

The first years of the twentieth century marked the height of Cross’s adherence to the principles of Neo-Impressionism and the culmination of the experimentation that had defined his work of the previous decade; as Carrie Haslet explains: ‘Cross, from about 1895 to 1903, painted scenes that were ever more idyllic, imaginative and optimistic… As Cross’ biographer Isabelle Compin has noted, Cross, now believing that the effects of light could not be rendered with accuracy in painting, chose instead to suggest light’s intensity and to emphasize its ability to harmonize or unify differing compositional elements’ (C. Haslet, Neo-Impressionism: Artists on the Edge (exhibition catalogue), Portland Museum of Art, Portland, 2002, p. 28).

This development is evident in the present work in which Cross makes full use of the more expressive capacity afforded by his use of looser, more lively brushstrokes. At the same time, his exacting approach to colour remained at the heart of his work; a letter to fellow artist and friend Charles Angrand was accompanied by a sketch of the present work and explains: ‘The sketch was a necessary addition to this letter, and really, with what you know of me, you will see something more, surely, than through words alone. However: the flesh is pinky-orange, the beach and the point of the rocks, orange, the trees in the sunshine, yellow-green. The great pine in the shade a variety of green, green-blue etc. The sea a light blue and full of light, the sky white’ (the artist in a letter to Charles Angrand, September 1902, quoted in I. Compin, op. cit., p. 193). Subsequent letters detail the lengths that Cross went to in order to achieve the depth and richness that make La plage ombragée such an important example of his mature style; he was evidently happy with the final result, sending it for exhibition at the Société des Artistes indépendants in 1903.

La plage ombragée was commissioned by Harry Graf von Kessler in 1902. Once described by the poet W.H. Auden as ‘perhaps the most cosmopolitan man who ever lived’, Kessler was a committed and enlightened patron of the arts. He first encountered the French modernists over the course of a number of trips to Paris in the 1890s, and became particularly associated with the Nabis as a patron and friend of Maurice Denis and Pierre Bonnard, among others. From 1903 to 1906, as director of the Grand Ducal Museum of Arts and Crafts in Weimar, he devoted much of his time and his considerable energy to promoting French avant-garde artists in Germany.