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painting of two men working in a field with a brooman image of a painting of a man and a woman working in a fieldan oil painting of a bear standing in a field with a bird in it ' s mouthan image of a picture of a painting of a man in a suit
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374 - Albert CLOUARD (1866–1952) The Gorse Cutters or The Gorse Bu…
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Estimate €15,000 - €25,000
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Description
Albert CLOUARD (1866–1952) The Gorse Cutters or The Gorse Bundlers, 1903 Oil on cardboard, signed lower left 63 x 80.5 cm Provenance: - Thierry-Lannon auction, Brest, 19 December 1993 - Private collection, France Exhibition: Grandes Serres de la Ville de Paris, Salon de la Société des artistes indépendants, 21 February to 24 March 1904, no. 536 Bibliography: Bruno Belleil, Albert Clouard, *Les derniers feux du symbolisme en Bretagne*, Rennes, Ouest-France, 1992, no. XLIII, reproduction on page 78 The event is still fresh in the memories of lovers of Breton painting: in November 1990, an issue of the journal *ArMen* was published, featuring on its cover a reproduction of a painting by a little-known artist, Albert Clouard (1866–1952), and which contained a major 16-page introductory article by Bruno Belleil, subtitled ‘The forgotten friend of Sérusier and Maurice Denis’. A few weeks later, the sale of the studio in Rennes on 9 December generated great enthusiasm, as much for the discovery of the works as for that of this painter, whom Maurice Denis described as a ‘clandestine Nabi’. Two years later, Bruno Belleil published a comprehensive biography subtitled ‘The Last Glimmers of Symbolism in Brittany’, accompanied by a catalogue of 269 works. Despite the difficulty in establishing a chronology within this body of work and the persistence of significant gaps in the painter’s life, his unique place within Post-Impressionism and Symbolism was evident. Certain sources of inspiration and his varied pictorial styles, ranging from naivety to Synthetism, reflected his uniqueness. A second studio sale in Rennes that same year confirmed the interest of art lovers, followed by another in 1994. At the root of the painter’s sources of inspiration was a journey on foot through Brittany in 1891, in the company of Georges Brault, to write a *Tro Breizh*. This enabled him to discover a different side to Brittany, distinct from that of the city of Rennes where he had spent his childhood. He settled in Perros-Guirec, where he found the ideal setting to explore a wide range of themes, ranging from legends and religious imagery to family scenes and scenes of everyday life. Standing out amongst these works is a series of six paintings of the same format exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1904: *The Lichen Dryers*, *The Seaweed Cutters*, *The Clam Gatherers*, The Fern Cutters, The Gorse Bundlers and The Seaweed Burners. The chosen themes depict very humble everyday activities in the Trégor region, always set between land and sea. The scene in *The Gorse Bundlers* is set at the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea, highlighting the movements of these undoubtedly very humble people as they cut gorse to make bundles. Since 1902, Clouard had been working on compositions based on small painted studies measuring 25 x 36 or coloured pencil drawings on paper. He experimented with compositions featuring two or three figures. These were stylised, standing out against the sea or in backlight, becoming almost impersonal. He followed the advice of his friend Maurice Denis: ‘Simplification to the extreme!’. He distanced himself as much as possible from anything picturesque, positioning himself at the opposite end of the spectrum to the bustling fishing ports that certain painters in Brittany were seeking to depict at the time. Clouard sought to create a series of aestheticised images conveying the immutability of Brittany. Denis advised him further: ‘The danger would be that you might become more of a realist than a poet’. In his painting, Clouard sought to find the equivalent of his poetry—his primary field—somewhere between subjectivity and timelessness, and to render a genre scene in a resolutely decorative style. No longer wishing to paint or exhibit from 1910 onwards, at the age of 44, and faced with numerous worries, Clouard withdrew into himself, despite his friendships with Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier. Nothing changed in the studio until his death in 1952, and beyond. This work did not feature in any of the three studio sales held in 1990, 1992 and 1994. It was probably acquired by a collector shortly after the 1904 exhibition. André Cariou
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About the sale MODERN PAINTINGS & BRETON SCHOOLS (Part Two)
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Auction time 07/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
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