Henri ROUSSEAU.

Lot 80
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Estimation :
15000 - 20000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 33 000EUR
Henri ROUSSEAU.
Roman Landscape or Fantasy View. [Circa 1880]. Oil on canvas signed lower right (32.5 x 40.5 cm). Charming unpublished composition by Douanier Rousseau. It depicts a medieval castle with an ancient temple and a peasant woman crossing a bridge. The precise drawing and the somewhat stiff arrangement of the buildings are from the first period of his work. The curves of the arches of the bridges and keeps, the crenellations of the walls and the facing of the walls allow us to literally follow the construction of the painting. The stonework can be found in the Cotton Harvest painting Exotic landscape with church circa 1880. The stone bridge, which leads into the painting, is characteristic of his open landscapes in contrast to the intricate jungle paintings for which he was famous. However, it is the views of Paris and its surroundings that dominate Douanier Rousseau's output. These works tell the story of his Parisian walks, working from the motif, from postcards or photographs. This somewhat fanciful view could represent a Roman view surrounded by hills done after a master in the Louvre, when he worked there as a copyist. However, the architectural layout of the town with its rigid lines also evokes the fortified entrance to his home town of Laval. The various reminiscences of places thus make the charm of this "mental landscape". (Cf. catalogue of the exhibition Le Douanier Rousseau. L' innocence archaïque, Musée d'Orsay 2016). Encouraged in his early years by Signac and Maximilien Luce, Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) began exhibiting at the Salon des Indépendants from 1886. His meeting with Alfred Jarry in the early 1890s was decisive. Not only did he do an engraving for the writer's magazine, L'Ymagier, but Jarry introduced him to Guillaume Apollinaire and Pablo Picasso, who soon became ardent promoters of his work. The Surrealists took over, recognizing a predecessor in the man Breton called "le mirifique Rousseau". Autograph certificate signed by Yann Le Pichon attached. A technical analysis of the painting was made at the request of Mr. Le Pichon.
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