Jean-Baptiste-Armand Guillaumin

J.-M. Caneel, Brussels
Hugo Perls, New York
Margit Chanin, New York
Mr. & Mrs. Lester Avnet, Long Island (and sold: Parke Bernet, New York, October 14, 1965, lot 107)
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon, Pittsburgh
Sale: Christie's, New York, November 15, 1983, lot 14
Acquired at the above sale

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, French Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, 1966, no. 97, illustrated in the catalogue 

John Rewald, The History of Impressionism, New York, 1961, illustrated in color p. 427
Georges Serret & Dominique Fabiani, Armand Guillaumin, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 1971, no. 59, illustrated n.p.
John Rewald, "Cézanne and Guillaumin" in Etudes d'art françaises offertes à Charles Sterling, Paris, 1975, fig. 212

The canvas has been wax relined. There is rubbing and minor losses to the pigment around the periphery of the canvas; there is rubbing to the pigment at the stove and to the dark tones in the sitter's coat. When examined under UV light, there is a band of restoration along the entire left edge (band measuring approx. 1 in. in width), there is further repainting along a thinner band on the right edge (approx. 1/2 in. wide) and along most of the lower edge. There are other areas of repainting in the upper right (between the two canvases), to the figure's coat and the stove. There is a further area of repainting to the lower left foreground. There are other more cosmetic strokes of retouching scattered throughout the composition. The paint layer is sound and stable. The varnish is clean and clear. The painting is in fairly good condition.
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 present painting, executed in 1878, is testament to the central role Guillaumin assumed among the Impressionist group. Guillaumin was one of the least privileged members of the circle and found employment with the department of bridges and causeways. He also took to painting blinds with Camille Pissarro, immortalizing his friend at work in the late 1860s in Pissarro Painting Blinds now in Limoges. He continued working in the day and painting at night until 1892 when he won the city lottery and could finally afford to paint full time. All the same, the patronage of a small number of individuals was even more important to him than other artists. Guillaumin counted Dr. Gachet and Eugène Murer among his important patrons and supporters.

The subject of this work is his friend illustrator and engraver Dr. Martinez seated and reading in the artist’s studio. The painting visible at the top right of the composition is Guillaumin’s La Seine à Paris from 1871, now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (see fig. 1). An early Cézanne portrait of Madame Cézanne from circa 1872 is seen to the left leaning on the wall.  A plaster of a hand fragment hangs to the right of the sitter, a compositional element and quite possibly the same plaster, which can also be found in Paul Cézanne’s important Still Life with a Ginger Jar and Eggplants (1893-94) now in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Guillaumin trained at the Académie Suisse where he came into brief contact with Courbet, but more importantly he formed long-lasting friendships with Cézanne and Pissarro. Together they exhibited at the first Salon des Refusés in 1863 and the following year Monet and Renoir joined them. By 1875 Guillaumin and Cézanne both had studios at 15 Quai d'Anjou, and it was here that Cézanne painted his self-portrait with one of Guillaumin's landscapes behind him, the very same landscape, La Seine à Paris, seen at the top of the present work.

This work was previously in the seminal collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon, Pittsburgh.