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Valuation Appraisal Report

Appraisal Date: November 12, 2019

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Title: Olive Trees at

Artist: (French, Le Cateau-Cambrésis 1869–1954 )

Date: Summer 1906

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 17 1/2 x 21 3/4 in. (44.5 x 55.2 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Collection, 1975

Accession Number: 1975.1.194

Appraisal Value: $ USD Purpose of Appraisal: Fair Market Value Description Artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Title Olive Trees at Collioure

Country Medium Oil on canvas

Year 1906 Dimensions 17 1/2 x 21 3/4 in. (44.5 x 55.2 cm) Markings Signed lower left: "Henri Matisse" Detailed Description Painted in Collioure, a scenic town on the Mediterranean coast that drew many painters in the early years of the twentieth century, this is one of the earliest and most important paintings of Matisse’s Fauve period. Inspired by the works of his older contemporaries and Henri-Edmond Cross, who also lived in the south of France at this time, Matisse adopted the vibrant, unnatural colors favored by the Fauves. The artist found great inspiration in the sun- drenched landscape of Collioure, writing to a friend that it was full of “charming sites.” This painting was acquired by the collectors Gertrude and shortly after it was completed. Catalogue Raisonne The closest thing to a catalogue raisonne of the paintings is Mario Luzi and Massino Carra’s L’Opera di Matisse: Dalla rivolta Fauve all’intimismo 1904-28, which is by no means complete or fully accurate but still useful. Provenance Purchased by Leo Stein, , autumn 1906; and Leo Stein, Paris; acquired from an undocumented source, Paris, by Robert Lehman, New York, May/June 1949. Exhibition History Paris 1908c, no. 894 (as Paysage aux oliviers); Paris 1910a, no. 43 (or 45; as Paysage de Collioure, 1906); New York - - San Francisco - Toronto 1952 - 53, no. 93 (as Landscape, Collioure, 1904-5); Chicago 1956; Paris 1957, no. 70 (erroneously titled Promenade dans les oliviers 1905); Cincinnati 1959, no. 175 (as Landscape, Collioure); New York--Ottawa-San Franscisco 1970-71 (as Olive Trees, 1905); New York 1973, no. 3; Zurich- Dusseldorf 1986, no. 62 (erroreously titled Promenade among the Olive Trees); Los Angeles-New York-London 1990-91 (dated 1905). https://books.google.com/books?id=75KozG4DODwC&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=Olive

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%20provenance&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=6KzrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR91&dq=mario+luzi+henri +matisse&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_7tip1_rlAhWxTN8KHQF NBAsQ6AEwAXoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=mario%20luzi%20henri%20matisse&f=false Comparable Work #1:

Artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Title Oliviers à Collioure

Country France Medium Oil and ink on canvas

Year Painted in 1905 Dimensions Height 18 in.; Width 21.8 in. / Height 45.7 cm.; Width 55.3 cm. Markings Signed ‘H. Matisse’ (lower center) Detailed Description

Title Oliviers à Collioure Medium Oil and black ink on canvas Dimension Height 18 in.; Width 21.8 in. / Height 45.7 cm.; Width 55.3 cm. Auction/Auction Date Christie's London: Wednesday, June 20, 2018 [Lot 00029B] Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale Estimated (3,302,509 - 4,623,513 USD) Sold For 3,974,570 USD Premium http://www.artnet.com.ezproxy.sothebysinstitute.com/PDB/FAADSearch/ LotDetailView.aspx?Page=1&artType=FineArt&subTypeId=11 Comparable Work #1: Description

Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

‘What I dream of is an art of expression [...] expression for me, is not the passion that bursts forth on a face or demonstrates itself in a violent movement. It exists throughout my whole painting.’ Henri Matisse (quoted in J.L. Ferrier, The Fauves: The Reign of Colour, Paris, 1992, p. 23).

‘The search for colour did not come to me from studying other paintings, but from the outside – that is to say from the light of nature’ Henri Matisse (quoted in P. Schneider, Matisse, London, 1984, p. 209).

‘In art, truth and reality begin when you no longer understand anything you do or know...’ Matisse (quoted in P. Schneider, Matisse, London, 1984, p. 210).

Painted during one of the most crucial creative moments in Henri Matisse’s entire career, Oliviers à Collioure illustrates the highly experimental nature of the artist’s work during the seminal summer he spent in secluded seaside town of Collioure. It was here, surrounded by the luminous colours and rich fecundity of the untamed natural landscape of the southern coastline of France, that Matisse began to boldly push beyond the established boundaries of art and experiment with a more spontaneous, expressive means of painting. Focusing on the form of a lone woman as she wanders through a grove of olive trees, the scene is rendered in a flurry of vibrantly coloured brushstrokes, each touch of paint capturing the fervour and energy that Matisse felt before the landscape. The entire summer was devoted to investigating the visual potential of the pointillist language, with the artist exploring and playing with the central tenets of Neo- in a series of experiments that would prove fundamental to the development of . Indeed, as has explained, NeoImpressionism was ‘the foundation of Fauvism – but the foundation that Matisse dismantled in order to create Fauvism’ (J. Elderfield, Henri Matisse: A Retrospective, New York, 1992, p. 50). Collioure, with its dramatic play of light and vibrant colours, played a fundamental role in this period of experimentation, feeding Matisse’s imagination and inspiring him to embark upon this revolutionary new path.

Matisse’s first experiences of the Mediterranean coast came in the summer of 1904, when he had spent an extended sojourn in SaintTropez, visiting the painter Paul Signac. That June had seen Matisse’s first oneman show open at the gallery, featuring forty-five paintings and one which encapsulated the full range of his oeuvre up to this point. While his work drew complements from the critic Roger Marx, the exhibition was not as commercially successful as the artist had hoped. Despondent and unsure of his next steps, Matisse departed Paris for the summer. Arriving in the South in mid-July with his wife and young son, Matisse felt the impact of his new surroundings immediately. A native of Northern France, he was bowled over by the bright light and bold colours of the sun drenched Midi, as well as the variety of sub-tropical flora which filled the rolling hills as they descended towards the sea. These new surroundings slowly began to shape and influence Matisse’s paintings, brightening his palette, introducing a new sense luminosity to his pigments, and reviving his interest in Neo-Impressionism. Although reluctant at first to submit his painting to the methodical, rigorous techniques of the pointillist style zealously espoused by Signac, by the end of the summer the artist had begun to construct his compositions using small dots of carefully layered pigment. The richly coloured canvas Le goûter (Le golfe de SaintTropez, 1904 (Kunstsammlung NordrheinWestfalen, Düsseldorf), created during this summer sojourn and depicting the artist’s wife and son in front of the town’s iconic bay, clearly illustrates the beginnings of this shift in Matisse’s approach, which would ultimately lead to his renowned composition Luxe, calme et volupté, 1904 (Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris), painted on his return to Paris that autumn. Explaining the appeal of Neo-Impressionism at this stage in his career, Matisse later wrote: ‘The simplification of form to its fundamental geometric shapes, as interpreted by Seurat, was the great innovation of that day. This new technique made a great impression on me. Painting had at last been reduced to a scientific formula; it was the from the empiricism of the preceding eras’ (Matisse, quoted in J. Elderfield, Matisse in the Collection of the Museum of , New York, 1978, p. 36). The following summer, Matisse returned to the inspiring landscapes of the South of France in the hope of finding inspiration once again, settling in Collioure from May to September. The trip proved revelatory for Matisse, ushering in experiments in which he pushed the Neo-Impressionist style to its very limits, and began to investigate the expressive properties of independent colour.

Describing the inherent appeal of Collioure, a local wine-grower Paul Soulier wrote: ‘One is struck above all by the bright light, and by colours so strong and so harmonious that they possess you like an enchantment’ (P. Soulier, quoted in H. Spurling, The Unknown Matisse: A Life of Henri Matisse, Volume One: 1869 - 1908, London, 1998, p. 300). Indeed, it appears to have been these aspects of the picturesque hamlet on the Catalan coast which fascinated Matisse most upon his arrival. This secluded seaside town, framed by rolling hills on one side and the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean on the other, had remained an isolated outpost until the arrival of the coastal railway in the late nineteenth century. Apart from Signac, who had stopped briefly in the town on his way to Saint-Tropez over a decade previously, Matisse was the first artist to base himself in Collioure, renting rooms at the Hôtel de la Gare by the station. Unused to visitors, the locals appear to have been suspicious of the fair-haired stranger when he first arrived. Undeterred, Matisse began to work in this vibrant environment, absorbing the hustle and bustle of the busy port, the play of life as it unfolded on the streets, and the rich exotic flora, from banana and date palms to figs, oranges and lemons, that filled the lush landscape. The first few weeks seem to have been taken up mainly by explorations into his new surroundings, with the artist reporting that he had only completed two small oil sketches by the start of June. The family quickly fell into the relaxed rhythms of life in Collioure, travelling to a nearby bay each morning to swim, before wandering back to their lodgings through the wild landscape around the town. It may have been on one such walk among the olive trees that the inspiration for the present composition struck the artist, as he spotted his wife on the path ahead of him, sheltering from the sun under her parasol.

The preliminary network of lines with which Matisse captured the scene remain clearly visible on the canvas, their thin, sinuous forms delineating the distinctive profiles of the olives trees, the line of the path as it meanders through the landscape, and the statuesque figure of his wife, Amélie, in the distance. The artist then began to add colour to the scene, applying short, sharp, staccato strokes of pure pigment to create a glittering mosaic effect, in which each brushstroke is seen as an independent, autonomous mark, floating against the white ground of the canvas. Eschewing the rigorous, calculated, overlapping patterns of Signac’s signature style, Matisse adopted an uninhibited, direct response to nature in this canvas, laying down his brushstrokes with a new spontaneity that captured the energy and vitality he felt before the landscape. Freeing his colours from their traditionally descriptive role, Matisse adopts a palette of bold, non-mimetic pigments, rendering the sky in an array of raspberry pinks, the trunks of the cypress trees in a network of cobalt and crimson reds, and the lush grasses in notes of burnt and sunshine yellow. As Matisse later explained, ‘working before a soul-stirring landscape, all I thought of was making my colours sing, without paying any heed to rules and regulations’ (Matisse, quoted in P. Schneider, Matisse, London, 1984, p. 203).

The historical significance of Oliviers à Collioure lies in its relation to another painting from the 1905 summer at Collioure – Promenade des oliviers. Echoing one another in size, subject and vibrancy, these twin canvases reveal the conflicting impulses which occupied the artist at this pivotal moment in his career. Creating two opposing versions of the same motif, one in which he followed the principles of Neo-Impressionism as laid out by Signac, and another in which he took liberties with the formula, these two compositions show Matisse clearly assessing the latest developments in his style, charting his progress and analysing the merits of the opposing pathways that lay before him. While Oliviers à Collioure uses the constructive, dabbed brushstrokes of his loose approach to , Promenade dans les oliviers has an expressionistic vigour, filled with vigorous strokes of pigment that flow together to form large patches of colour. In this groundbreaking pair of canvases Matisse took his first decisive steps towards Fauvism, achieving an expressive, heightened play of colour and form that acts as a prelude to the revolutionary aesthetic he would achieve by the end of the summer.

Shortly after the present work was created, Matisse was joined in Collioure by his young friend and artistic colleague André Derain, who caused a stir upon his arrival with his bohemian dress and bold, outspoken manner. During the weeks that followed, both artists would reach new heights of expressive intensity in their work, forging the radical style that would earn them the moniker of Les Fauves (The Wild Beasts) at the 1905 d’Automne. The two artists often worked side by side during the day, followed by heated debates in the evening, which always revolved around the subject of colour. ‘We were at that time like children in the face of nature and we let our temperaments speak,’ Matisse recalled, ‘even to the point of painting from the imagination when nature herself could not be used’ (Matisse, quoted in S. Whitfield, Fauvism, London, 1996, p. 62). As such, the paintings executed during this inaugural summer at Collioure are counted among the most daring works of Matisse’s oeuvre, as he discovered a new means of representing the world. Comparable Work #2: http://www.artnet.com.ezproxy.sothebysinstitute.com/PDB/FAADSearch/ LotDetailView.aspx?Page=1&artType=FineArt&subTypeId=11

Title Promenade des oliviers Medium Oil on canvas; signed 'Henri.Matisse' (upper left) Dimension Height 18.2 in.; Width 22 in. / Height 46.2 cm.; Width 56 cm. Year 1905 Auction/Auction Date Christie's London: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 [Lot 00017] Impressionist/Modern Evening Sale Estimated 3,260,515 - 4,890,772 USD Sold For 4,516,628 USD Premium

Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work. Promenade des oliviers is a rare and historic painting by Henri Matisse, dating from the pivotal Summer in Collioure in 1905 which marked the beginning of his crucial Fauve period and led to his becoming one of the prominent leaders of the avant garde of the Twentieth Century. During this time, he abandoned the that had earlier characterised his work and instead reached a more expressive and expressionistic means of depicting the world. This is clear in Promenade dans les oliviers in the way that the fields of colour have been rendered with a vivacious energy that recalls the pictures of , lending the entire composition an incredible sense of vitality. The historic nature of this picture is underscored by its notable Comparable Work #3:

Title Les Pivoines Medium Oil on canvas Dimension Height 25.6 in.; Width 21.5 in. / Height 65 cm.; Width 54.6 cm. Year Painted in Collioure, 1907 Auction/Auction Date Christie's New York: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 [Lot 00013] Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale Estimated 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USD Sold For 19,122,500 USD Premium http://www.artnet.com.ezproxy.sothebysinstitute.com/PDB/FAADSearch/ LotDetailView.aspx?Page=1&artType=FineArt&subTypeId=11 Comparable Work #3: Description

Artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Title Les Pivoines

Country France Medium Oil on canvas

Year Painted in Collioure, 1907 Dimensions Height 25.6 in.; Width 21.5 in. / Height 65 cm.; Width 54.6 cm. Markings signed 'Henri. Matisse' (lower left) Detailed Description

The months Matisse spent at the remote Mediterreanean fishing village, Collioure (the summers of 1905-07 and the winter of 1906-07), were critical to forming his artistic vision. His experimentation with form and color flowered first into Fauvism, then later into a flattened, highly reductive style. Painted at Collioure in late spring 1907, Les Pivoines combines the gestural brushwork of Fauvism with the abstract, intangible space of Matisse's revolutionary decorative mode. The painting demonstrates the results of Matisse's tireless aesthetic exploration during this critical period. A lush bouquet of vibrantly colored, late-spring flowers, including bushy magenta peonies and spindly purple irises, is arranged in a low vase painted with and white squares. Within weeks of its creation, Les Pivoines was acquired for the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune by the critic Félix Fénéon, said to possess the most discerning eye for modern art in all of Paris. And Matisse confirmed its importance by including it in his 1910 solo retrospective there.

Before Collioure, Matisse had been working in the neo-Impressionist manner of Seurat and his disciple Signac, applying small touches of complementary hues side-by-side in a systematic, calculated way. At Collioure (much to Signac's dismay) Matisse flouted orthodox neo-Impressionist practice - and encouraged his young protégé André Derain to join him there for inspiration. Indeed, the 1905 sojourn at Collioure transformed both artists' work: they began to paint in a freely brushed, intensely colorful style: irregular strokes of pure, unmodulated pigment, placed separately on the white primed canvas, creating a dazzling effect of vibrating light. Collioure, Matisse explained to , gave him 'a furious urge to paint'. At the Salon d' Automne their Collioure work created an immediate sensation. Scandalised, the critic dubbed them Fauves (Wild Beasts), naming the first real revolution in 20th-century art. https://www.christies.com/sales/impressionist-modern-new-york-may-2012/evening-special- feature-02.aspx

Sale Highlights - Henri Matisse

As a fitting salute to the spring season, Christie’s selected as its cover lot Les Pivoines (The Peonies), a lush still-life from Henri Matisse’s highly-desirable Fauve period that bursts with vivid color and pattern (estimate: $8-12 million). Painted in 1907 in the remote fishing village of Collioure, the painting is emblematic of the feverishly colored canvases Matisse and his protégé André Derain first began producing in 1905 as a bold exploration of form and color. While one critic famously likened their efforts to that of “wild beasts” (“les fauves”), forward-thinking critic and collector Félix Fénéon, the artistic director of the prestigious Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, immediately recognized the significance of Matisse’s innovations and snapped up Les Pivoines within weeks of its creation. Fénéon later featured the work in a still-life exhibition at his gallery in November 1907 and again in 1910, in a solo retrospective showcasing Matisse’s steady progression toward the flattened, highly reductive style that would cement his place as one of the giants of Modern Art.

In the modern auction market, Fauve paintings of the caliber of Les Pivoines continue to inspire equally feverish competition among collectors. In May of 2011, a vibrant high Fauve landscape by Matisse’s contemporary fetched $22.5 million at Christie’s New York, setting a new world auction record for the artist. Similarly, in June of 2011, a fauve landscape of Collioure painted by Derain sold for $24.1 million at auction, setting a record for the artist. https://artdaily.cc/news/54576/Sale-of-Impressionist-and-Modern-art-to-highlight-fresh-to-market- works-and-a-major-rediscovery#.XdXiOiV7lE4 Comparable Work #4:

Title La pudeur - L'Italienne Medium Oil on panel Dimension Height 16 in.; Width 12.7 in. / Height 40.6 cm.; Width 32.3 cm. Year Painted in 1906 Auction/Auction Date Christie's London: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 [Lot 00012] Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale Estimated 5,892,751 - 7,857,002 USD Sold For 4,920,938 USD Premium http://www.artnet.com.ezproxy.sothebysinstitute.com/PDB/FAADSearch/ LotDetailView.aspx?Page=1&artType=FineArt&subTypeId=11 Analysis (Example format 1)

Manierre Dawson is often regarded as one of the most overlooked artists among the first generation of American modernists. For a period of four crucial years (1910-14), he produced some of the most remarkable avant-garde paintings in the United States, but effectively ended his artistic career by leaving Chicago subsequently to take up fruit farming in . Although he did not receive the same recognition as some of his contemporaries such as and , his work was in the forefront of American in the early 20th century.

Trained as a civil engineer at the Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago (“Armour Tech”), Dawson took a position upon graduation (in 1909) in the drafting department of architectural firm Holabird & Roche. The following year, he took a leave of absence and spent six months traveling throughout England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, where he visited museums, collectors, and archeological sites. In Paris, he met the American painter John Singer Sargent and visited Gertrude Stein (who, for 200 francs, became the first buyer of his paintings).5

While Dawson’s road towards appears to have begun earlier on, 1910 was a particularly significant year as it marked a period of diverse experimentation towards “pure” abstraction. Scholar research suggested that Dawson might have made this artistic journey independent of Picasso or European Cubism.6 The engineering curriculum at Armour Tech required the study of mechanical drawing and stereotomy, both essential tools for visualizing and creating two-dimensional representations of three- dimensional structures. A series of works by Dawson that was loosely based on the symbolic language of algebraic equations provided further evidence that his experience as a student and practitioner of civil engineering might have provided the idea and justification towards abstraction.

Meditation (1913) was completed in the same year that another one of Dawson’s abstractions, Wharf under Mountain (1913), was included in the Chicago venue of the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art (The ).7 In his journal, he wrote of the validation of his work: "These are without question the most exciting days of my life... I had thought of myself as an anomaly and had to defend myself many times as not crazy; and here now at the Art Institute many artists are presented showing these very inventive departures from the academies."8 Participation in The Armory Show boosted Dawson’s confidence and led to some of his boldest works in the same year that could be described as abstract Cubism. He also parted ways with Holabird & Roche, allowing more time to be devoted to his painting, which grew in volume and complexity.

By its nature, mechanical drawing is a linear medium. Dawson’s training in mechanical drawing is especially evident in abstract works like Meditation (1913), where he used lines as an independent design element. The linear quality of Meditation (1913) bears some resemblance to Picasso’s drawing the Standing Female (1910), which was owned by Alfred Stieglitz and lent to The Armory Show in 1913.9 While Meditation (1913) demonstrates certain characteristics of Cubist such as focus on structure (rather than color), faceted forms, as well as the merging of foreground and background, it differs from works by Picasso in that there is no use of multiple views. In addition, while examining the posture of the standing figure in Meditation (1913), one might notice a certain similarity with one of the “Graces” in Meeting (The Three Graces) (1912), an earlier work and one of the most important paintings by Dawson. The more reduced form of the figure seen in Meditation (1913) could be the result of Dawson pushing his work further towards “pure” abstraction.

Despite being held within the collection of a number of major American museums,10 the “Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925” exhibition at the between December 2012 and April 2013 did not feature Dawson’s work. To this day, he remains better known to specialists in early than to the public at large, and there does not appear to be a high level of auction activity for his works. Since 2007, only five oil paintings appeared on the auction market. Three of them (Untitled (1913), Figures in Orange, Yellow and Pink (1915) and Mother and Child (1912) – see above) were sold for an average price of USD 31,717, and the other two were bought in.11 While the short duration of Dawson’s most productive period together with holdings by museums may initially suggest scarcity in the market, the relatively high bought in rate (at 40%) may provide another explanation of the low level of auction activity. Looking further back to 1989, Dawson’s oil paintings appeared at auction twenty-seven times (i.e. just over once a year). In terms of price range, most of the works were sold for under USD 50,000 and no lots fetched a price above USD 100,000.

The low level of auction activity provides a rather limited number of comparables for valuation purposes. Untitled (1913) and Fourteen (1913), both completed in the same year as Meditation (1913), are the closest examples from a stylistic perspective. While the color scheme of Fourteen (1913) is similar to Meditation (1913) (both are in flesh tones), Untitled (1913) can be easily identified with Meditation (1913) in the way Dawson used lines as a key element of its composition. It should be noted that Fourteen (1913) was sold in 2000 and therefore the valuation can only provide limited guidance. Untitled (1913) was sold in 2007 (prior to the most recent financial crisis),12 and there were only two subsequent transactions that took place successfully at auction.

Figures in Orange, Yellow and Pink (1915) and Mother and Child (1912) were both sold in 2012. By comparison, however, these works are less recognizable to collectors who might be looking for paintings that would showcase Dawson as a pioneer of abstraction in the United States (Figures in Orange, Yellow and Pink (1915) was produced after Dawson’s departure from Chicago to take up fruit farming in Michigan). One may also gain further insight into the significance of these factors by comparing actual prices achieved against pre-sale estimates. While Untitled (1913) and Fourteen (1913) fetched prices slightly above and slightly below their respective top estimates, Figures in Orange, Yellow and Pink (1915) and Mother and Child (1912) were both sold for less than the low estimate. It should be noted that all the examples quoted in this report are included in the catalogue raisonné and are treated as comparable with regard to provenance as well as exhibition history.

In terms of size, a comparison of the aforementioned works against Meditation (1913) is summarized below: Work Area (cm2) Size Difference (%)

Meditation (1913) 1,210 0%

Untitled (1913) 898 -26%

Fourteen (1913) 3,683 204%

MotherandChild (1912) 8,260 583%

Figures in Orange, Yellow and Pink (1915) 3,178 163%

Taking into consideration all the factors discussed above, Untitled (1913), an oil on wood panel sold in 2007 for USD 51,400, would provide the closest comparable for the purpose of this analysis. Adjusting for the size difference, one arrives at an estimate of USD 69,000. Despite the low level of auction activity, Meditation (1913) represents a fine example of Dawson’s abstract painting at the height of his artistic career, and the potential connection with Meeting (The Three Graces) (1912) (one of Dawson’s most important works) should also be taken into consideration. Therefore, I estimate a value of USD 78,000. Analysis (Example format 2)

Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore is a mature work that displays the most desirable attributes of Sanford 21 Robinson Gifford’s artistic style. Art historian Ila Weiss proposed that Gifford, a Hudson River School painter, was the first artist working in his time to employ “monochrome as a unifying 22 factor” in his paintings. This technique characterizes Maggiore: the canvas is coated in ethereal tones of burnt sienna, and the landscape is developed through heavy use of chiaroscuro. Thomas 23 Cole, another prominent Hudson River School artist, influenced Gifford’s early works, but here, Gifford has found his own unique style.

th 24 Hudson River School paintings became undesirable at the turn of the 20 century; today they are 25 among the most requested components of the New York Historical Society’s art collection. Sotheby’s set a new record in May 2012 for Hudson River School artist David Johnson, Gifford’s 26 contemporary, selling View from New Windsor, Hudson River for $722,500. Buy in rates at the Spring 2012 American Painting Sales were a low 12 percent at Sotheby’s and 23 percent at 27 Christie’s.

28 Three different versions of Maggiore exist: this is the largest and most finished. A smaller, oil and pencil on paper sketch of Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore sold for $71,700 at Sotheby’s in 2002, and whereabouts of the third version are unknown. Several of Gifford’s works have vanished since his death in 1888, including “major paintings shown at prominent venues and attested by journalists 29 and colleagues during his lifetime.” These missing documented works make the paintings whose locations are known even more valuable.

The most desirable paintings by Gifford have a hazy, twilight atmospheric quality rendered in a monochromatic color palette with heavy reliance on chiaroscuro, and generally feature bodies of water. It is important to note that a typical Gifford painting is small, often less than 120 square inches in surface area. In contrast, Maggiore is one of his largest works at 729 square inches.

The first comparable, Hunter Mountain at Twilight, is a mere 82.6 square inches, about 88% smaller than Maggiore. It was painted in 1865, a few years before Gifford developed his mature style. Hunter Mountain is an insipid painting in comparison to Maggiore; it lacks the shimmering water and alluring haze that is coveted in a Gifford work. It has a nascent sunset on the horizon, but the foreground is littered with tree stumps that are not as pleasing to the eye as other Gifford works, such as Maggiore. Despite these detrimental qualities, it still sold in September 2012 for $292,000, proof that the market for Gifford’s work is strong.

Gifford painted the second comparable, Haverstraw Bay (Shad Fishing on the Hudson), only three years prior to Maggiore. This painting is larger that Hunter, but still measures only 190 square inches, 73% smaller than Maggiore. Its composition is similar to Maggiore, featuring pale blue water dotted with boaters in the foreground and a mountain range in the hazy, pale blue background. The sky is gently colored with a budding pink sunset, reflected slightly in the water. It sold for $290,000 in May 2011.

Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore is over eight times the size of Hunter Mountain; it is also considerably more striking. Eight times $292,000 equals $2,336,000, a sale price possible for the very best works by Gifford, whose previous record was $2,144,000 for Fire Island Beach in 2005. Maggiore is only approximately four times the size of Haverstraw; four times $290,000 is equal to $1,160,000. The noteworthy dimensions and magnetism of Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore, combined with the current strength of the American painting market and interest in the Hudson River School, will yield a sale at the high end of the market. I have adjusted the number from the comparison with Hunter Mountain down slightly to accommodate the discrepancy between Haverstraw and Hunter, estimating the the fair market value for Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore at $2,300,000.

Henri Matisse

Promenade among the Olive Trees by the French painter Henri Matisse is one of his earliest and most important works of the Fauve period. The oil on canvas is circa 1905 and was painted in the Mediterranean coast town of Collioure. At the time, many painters were drawn to this part of southern France. Matisse took inspiration for this painting from the works of two of his older contemporaries, Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross (The Metropolitan, 2014).

This work is painted in the Fauve style which was personally introduced by Henri Matisse and André Derain. These painters were first to break with Impressionism and older, traditional methods. Brushstrokes are bold, apparent, and vivid. Colors used come directly from the tube, are vibrant and high-keyed, and are not natural to its subject. The artists sought to interject emotions into an otherwise formal painting (Rewald, 2004). The use of purples, turquoise blues, and yellows in this work of art bring feelings of happiness, lightheartedness, and joy. The desire to frolic in the grass comes to life when taking in the colorful scene.

Matisse arrived at the Fauve style through experimenting with Post-Impressionist styles of artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Cézanne, as well as Neo-Impressionists Seurat, Cross, and Signac. These influences brought him to reject traditional three-dimensional space, instead using color planes to define dimension in the Fauvism movement (Rewald, 2004). These splashes of strong, course strokes coupled with vivid, bright colors add movement to the painting bringing it to life and creating the background and foreground spaces.

Rewald, S. (2004). Heilbrunn History: Fauvism. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fauv/hd_fauv.htm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2014). Olive Trees at Collioure. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/459161

(not relevant) Analysis of Olive Trees by Vincent Van Gogh

The painting Olive Trees, now at the Minneapolis Institute of , is one of a series of ten or twelve paintings of olive orchards, which Van Gogh painted in 1889 while living at the asylum of Saint- Remy. This painting is a landscape accomplished in bright, complementary colors, with Van Gogh’s characteristically brisk brushwork. The image is divided roughly into thirds, with the middle zone, the trees, being highly capricious. The brushstrokes describe the lay of the land, the movement of the wind in the trees, and the rays of the sun. The sun itself is hugely misrepresented in size, and highlighted also by an outline of orange. It dominates the picture and takes on perhaps a “supernatural” aspect, possibly representing deity or faith. The curved trees all lean, even quiver, away from the center of the painting. They cast violet shadows which shouldn’t be possible, given the placement of the sun: Realism is sacrificed for the content. The most prominent of these shadows is at the center of the foreground, and is not associated with any one tree. One could see this central shadow as the thing from which the trees are bending. The base of each tree is painted with red lines that ambiguously outline where the shadows would fall if the sun were directly overhead. Both the ground and the trees have a singularly wave appearance, while the sun is more stable, and the distant mountains are still.

Olive trees reflects the artist’s Dutch heritage by its origination and in his passion for bright colors, which comes from a Dutchman’s reaction and love for colors. The main influences perceptible in this painting are those of Millet, Romanticism, and the Impressionists.

The link from Olive Trees to Van Gogh’s idol, Jean-Francoise Millet, becomes unambiguous when one looks back to Van Gogh’s copies of Millet’s painting, The Sower, which features the same prodigious, beaming sun found in Olive Trees. Millet’s Sower, however, does not have this very critically important sun. A more unequivocal, yet more exquisite connection is probable in the degrees of light: The foreground of Olive Trees is the darkest part of the painting, while the land grows lighter as it abates, until it reaches the brilliant yellow sky which composes the top third of the image. This same pattern and emphasis on zones marks many of Millet’s works, including Man with a Hoe, Shepherdess Guarding her Flock, and notable The Gleaners and The Angelus. Hence the connection to Millet is sunny without being obvious. Van Gogh was also a great admirer of Eugene Delacroix, and this Romantic influence is shown in Olive Trees in the vigorous of the colors and in the way Van Gogh tries to express inner states primarily through color use. Expressing an inner state through landscape is quite deceptive, but olive trees aid themselves to it with their distorted appearance, which helps to create a sense of tumult in this painting, and which kind of explains the artist’s attraction to them. They furnish to the painting’s strong sense of movement – another Romantic characteristic, which is exemplified in Theodore Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, or any of Gericault’s work.

The influence of the Impressionist movement on Van Gogh is most manifested in his use of broken brushstrokes. The Impressionists tried to recreate the effect of sunlight on solid objects by using separate brushstrokes of different pure colors, instead of mixing the desired color. An early (pre- Impressionist) example of this technique can be found in Delacroix’s Dante and Virgil in Hell. Post- Impressionist made a science out of it, breaking down each color into its constituent parts. Fact fully, Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Grand-Jatte had an influence on Van Gogh when he saw it in 1886. The Impressionists also made great use of complementary colors. A vivid and transparent example of this is Claude Monet’s Impression: Sunrise which is all about complementary colors. Van Gogh, in Olive Trees, gets the best out of each color by abutting to its complement. The green of the trees has red highlights, the blue-violet of the shadows is sprinkled with the orange of the ground, and the blue-violet of the mountains is both mixed with and adjacent to the yellow of the sky. The brushstrokes that carry this out are inspired by the Impressionists, but are more abundant and blunter than those an Impressionist would use.

Like many of Van Gogh’s paintings, Olive Trees commences as a landscape and expands into a complex work, disclosing influences from other times and places. Using the color theory and separated brushstrokes of the Impressionists, the movement and vivid colors of the Romantics, and lighting and composition inspired by Millet, Van Gogh achieves the potency and significance that characterizes his work. Van Gogh’s paintings can’t possibly be mistaken for those of another artist of his time because, despite the fact that all of his means have criterion, his end results do not.