Galerie Dreyfus
78
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PIERRE – LÉON TESSIER (1824 – 1885)
Courbet and his artist f…
See original version (French)
78
-
PIERRE – LÉON TESSIER (1824 – 1885)
Courbet and his artist f…
See original version (French)
Estimate €16,000 - €20,000
Voluntary lot
Description
PIERRE – LÉON TESSIER
(1824 – 1885)
Courbet and his artist friends
1877
Oil on canvas
50 x 80 cm.
Signed and dated lower left ‘Léon Tessier, 1877’
Provenance
Chochon – Barré & Allardi auction, 16 March 2001, lot no. 356,
via Alexander Kahan Fine Arts Ltd, New York.
On a lovely afternoon, this group of friends has gathered in a garden where the
flowering plants herald the arrival of spring. They are chatting, playing, and will soon be sipping wine, as a
maid emerges from the house carrying a tray laden with glasses and a bottle of wine. In the centre,
around a round table, a game of chess is in progress. Of the two players, we
recognise, on the right, Gustave Courbet, good-natured and casually leaning back in his armchair,
whilst a woman stands beside him, watching the game intently. Opposite him, his opponent is preparing to
make his move, puffing on his pipe. He is also a painter, judging by his white smock. Finally,
a third figure seated at the table is following the game with interest. Behind them, on a bench, a
couple are chatting whilst a little girl holding a hoop leans on her mother’s shoulder.
Finally, in the foreground, a little boy spins his top in front of a little girl watching in wonder,
under the watchful eye of their mother, crouching beside them. The atmosphere is gentle, serene and
family-oriented. The style is precise, descriptive and aims to be realistic, much like that of Courbet, whose
Pierre Léon Tessier seems to be portraying in a social setting, much like Fantin-Latour’s ‘artists’ gatherings’,
but in a more bucolic version. Nature is, moreover, very much present
through the choice of this unkempt middle-class garden, a pretext for showcasing lush vegetation.
Here, the trees block the horizon, enclosing the figures in a setting of greenery. We
are in the countryside.
Whilst little is known about Pierre-Léon Tessier, we can, on the other hand, trace with precision the
eventful life of Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), whose exile in
Switzerland we can imagine in this work. However, as it was painted in the year of his death, it is more likely to be a commemorative painting
paying tribute to the leading figure of the Realist movement. The son of a farmer, Courbet was very close to
nature. At the age of 20, he began his apprenticeship in painting in the studio of Charles de Steuben
(1788–1856) in Paris and was a regular visitor to the Louvre, where he admired 17th-century Dutch and
Spanish paintings and also copied works by Géricault. He then took on a studio and became friends with
the Bohemian artists, notably Baudelaire (1821–1867). After a trip to Holland, where he
discovered Rembrandt and Hals, he returned home to Ornans to bring about a radical change
in his painting, which he himself described as ‘realist’. His masterpiece, *A Burial
at Ornans*, now in the Musée d’Orsay, caused a scandal at the 1851 Salon, as it was considered
too realistic, even socialist. From then on, his paintings caused offence; his female nudes, deemed too sensual,
were judged to be degrading. He did not, however, abandon landscape painting, travelling through the Languedoc,
Normandy and the Charentes, where he painted and even exhibited alongside Corot. An active member of the
Paris Commune in 1871, he was ordered to finance the reconstruction of the Vendôme Column.
Ruined, he went into exile in Switzerland, where he resumed a prolific output and achieved
international renown. He was then forced to surround himself with assistants to meet the demand. This
gathering of artists by Tessier bears witness to this final period of his career.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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