French paintings from the Molyneux collection [exhibition] June 24- September 7, 1952

Author Molyneux, Edward H

Date 1952

Publisher The Museum of Modern Art

Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3288

The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history— from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists.

MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection

MoMA LIBRARY Museumof ModernArt ARCHIVE wntei-cg- French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection

June 25 - September 7, 1952

THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART NEW YORK /V\o AAA 5 )A A A

TRUSTEES OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

JOHN HAY WHITNEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD; HENRY ALLEN

AIOE, 1ST VICE-CHAIRMAN; PHILIP L. GOODWIN, 2ND VICE-

CHAIRMAN; NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER, PRESIDENT; MRS. DAVID

M. LEVY, 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT; ALFRED H. BARR, JR., MRS.

ROBERT WOODS BLISS, WILLIAM A. M. BURDEN, STEPHEN C. CLARK, RENE d'hARNONCOURT, MRS. EDSEL B. FORD, A. CONGER

GOODYEAR, MRS. SIMON GUGGENHEIM, WALLACE K. HARRISON,

JAMES W. HUSTED, MRS. ALBERT I). LASKER, MRS. HENRY R. LUCE, RANALD H. MACDONALD, MRS. G. MACCULLOCH MILLER,

WILLIAM S. PALEY, MRS. E. B. PARKINSON, MRS. CHARLES S.

PAYSON, ANDREW CARNDUFF RITCHIE, DAVID ROCKEFELLER,

BEARDSLEY RUML, JOHN L. SENIOR, JR., JAMES THRALL SOBY,

EDWARD M. M. WARBURG, MONROE WHEELER

HONORARY TRUSTEES

FREDERIC CLAY BARTLETT, AIRS. W. MURRAY CRANE, DUNCAN

PHILLIPS, PAUL J. SACHS, MRS. JOHN S. SHEPPARD this spring captain molyneux's distinguished col lection of paintings was shown in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. The exhibition there was extra ordinarily popular and many New Yorkers expressed a wish to see it here. Captain Molyneux was approached and graciously consented to our request to show his paintings during the summer in the Museum of Modern Art. On behalf of the President and Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art I wish to thank him for his kindness in mak ing his collection available to a wider public. Chosen with exquisite care, it clearly proves that the quality of a paint ing is not dependent upon its size. Captain Molyneux's paintings are of a scale particularly appropriate for an apartment. I hope this demonstration of fitness and de light in a collection may influence others to make acquisi tions with equal pleasure and discrimination. For their cooperation in connection with this exhibi tion, we wish also to thank Mrs. Gardner Cowles, Mr. David E. Finley, Director of the National Gallery of Art, Mr. John Walker, Chief Curator, and Captain Molyneux's associate, Baron de Cramer.

Andrew Carnduff Ritchie Director, Department of Painting and Scidpture The Museum of Modern Art, Neiv York THE CHARM AND THE SPECIFIC CHARACTER of the Molyneux Collection lie not only in the exceptional quality of the paintings assembled by this famous Parisian per sonality, but to an even greater extent in the unusual unity of his collection as a whole. This is not just a series of fine pictures assembled over a period of years, it is a group to which each individual canvas contributes a new note per fectly in key with the rest. While these paintings have been gathered with great patience and discernment, it is love above all which presided over their final rendezvous on the walls of Captain Molyneux's enchanting apartment overlooking Paris. Instead of selecting large and imposing masterpieces, Molyneux has concentrated his attention on small canvases in which spontaneity is unbridled and where the painter seems to abandon himself exclusively to his own pleasure. There is an intimacy in these paintings and a quiet loveliness seldom attained in more ambitious works. Even the bitter genius of a Lautrec is represented here by an exquisite little picture. Indeed, exquisiteness seems to be the leitmotiv of the entire collection. The impressionists are shown in their most subtle aspects (particularly Berthe Morisot) , and Bonnard and Vuillard were never better than in the canvases here assembled. As to the living Rouault, Utrillo, Dufy, and Matisse, each painter has contributed works of an exceptional mood and beauty. If they are not large in size, the paintings of the Moly neux collection are nonetheless outstanding in quality, each one of them a happy expression of wonderful visual discov eries. Leaving the full power of big orchestras to museums, Captain Molyneux, a painter himself, has surrounded his daily life with the loveliest chamber music created during the last hundred years. John Reward OCCASIONALLY WE SEE A COLLECTION ill which each work of art has been chosen because it has so touched the heart that the desire for possession has been irresistible. The group of French paintings which Captain Molyneux has generously lent to the National Gallery is such a col lection. Looking at it one senses immediately the love that has gone into its assembling. In each painting there is the reflection of that often long and always passionate search for the particular piece of canvas or paper, some times only a scrap of either, which has especially stimulated the eye, or enchanted the fancy, or challenged the mind of the collector. Many pictures in the last hundred years have been painted for the public approval of salons and museums; fewer have been created for the intimate communion of private rooms. Captain Molyneux has avoided official pictures, which one finds even in the work of artists un popular with officials. Seeking, instead, the personal flash of inspiration, he has found works of unexpected and spon taneous beauty. He has been especially attracted to paint ings which convey with romantic intensity the deliciousness of life before the first World War. This exhibition is in a way, therefore, a nostalgic tribute to a vanished world, a world nowhere more vividly recorded than in the canvases of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.

John Walker Chief Curator The National Gallery of Art Washington , D. C. List of Paintings

PIERRE BONNARD (1867-1947) Two Dogs. 1895 Madame Claude Terrasse and Her Children. 1898 Children Leaving School Boulevard des Batignolles. 1900

EUGENE BOUDIN (1824-1898) On the Jetty. 1870 The Beach. 1877 Berck Loading the Boats Sunshades, Trouville Seascape Women at Trouville Women at Trouville Beach at Deauville

PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906) The Small Bridge

J. B. C. COROT (1796-1875) River Scene with Bridge. 1S34 Seascape — Arromanches

EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917) Madame Rene de Gas Race Horses Ballet Dancers RAOUL DUFY (lsso- ) Regatta at Le Havre

PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903) Still Life. 1891

S. V. E. LUPINE (1835-1892) Woman in the Woods The Seine at Notre Dame

UDOUARD MANET (1832-1883) Portrait of Madame Stanislas Lepine. 1878 Still Life of Flowers The Bon Bock Cafe. 1881

HENRI MATISSE (1869- ) Still Life Landscape River Scene. 1904

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926) Portrait of Madame Monet and Bazille. 1868

BERTHE MORISOT (1841-1895) The Harbor of Lorient. 1868 Portrait of the Artist's Sister Portrait of Madame de Pontillon. 1869 Portrait of Madame de Pontillon and Her Daughter PABLO PICASSO (1881- ) Self-Portrait

CAMILLE PISSARRO (1830-1903) Route de Louvciennes. 1872

PIERRE AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919) Landscape at Vetheuil. I860 Woman in a Park. 1868 Woman in a Park. 1868 Woman in a Landscape. 1868 Nude. 1868 The Blue River. 1868 Head of a Dog. 1870 f "Red Head" — Portrait of Mile. Samary. 1870 Woman and Two Children in a Field. 1872 Portrait of Madame Monet and Her Son. 1874 Regatta at Argenteuil. 1875 Portrait of Georges Riviere. 1877 Landscape between Storms White Houses at Cagnes Young Girl Reading Head of a Child Head of a Child

GEORGES ROUAULT (mi- ) The Virgin and Child Christ and the Doctor

ANDRE DUNOYER DE SEGONZAC (1884- ) Still Life with Oranges GEORGES SEURAT (1859-1891) Study for "La Grande Jatte"

ALFRED SISLEY (1839-1899) Route a St. Germain. 1872

HENRI I)E TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901) Carmen. 1885 The Artist's Dog — Fleche

MAURICE UTRILLO (1883- ) Landscape with Houses. 1908 Landscape with Houses. 1908 Landscape — Houses Under a Cliff

VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890) Farmhouse in Provence. 1888

MAURICE DE VLAMINCK (1876- River Scene with Bridge. 1920

EDOUARD VUILLARD (1868-1940) Woman Sitting by Fireside. 1894 The Yellow Curtains Breakfast. 1894 Man with Child Wearing Red Scarf Woman at Her Toilette Conversation Piece Woman in Bed

Portrait of Madame Monet and Bazille. 1868 CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)

'

Portrait of the Artist's Sister BERTHE MORISOT (1841-1895)

H. K. PRESS WASHINGTON