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Spaightwood Galleries
120 Main Street, Upton MA 01568-6193; 800-809-3343
Impressionist Portraits: Manet, Renoir, Degas, Gonzales, Cassatt, Cezanne, and Gauguin
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Berthe Morisot was the organizing force behind the Impressionist group: she was the one who arranged all of their group exhibitions. A close friend of Manet and Renoir, she introduced them to the drypoint technique. With the renewal of interest in the women of the Impressionist group, Morisot's critical reputation has risen substantially, and one sign of that has been a number of recent books and museum shows dedicated to her work and to her role as the organizer of the various Impressionist exhibitions during her lifetime. As the first two works below indicate, she also symbolizes the closeness of the Impressionists: She was Manet's sister-in-law and a close friend of Renoir, who not only made the portrait of her below but also several prints devoted to her daughter, Julie Manet, who is depicted in three versions of Le chapeau épinglé and in Sur la plage à Berneval. In her catalogue raisonné of works published by Ambroise Vollard, Ambroise Vollard Editeur: Prints, Books, Bronzes (NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1977), Una E. Johnson summarizes the state of current knowledge about Morisot's prints: Vollard acquired "approximately 12 drypoint" copperplates c. 1900. "Edition not noted but probably small; printed on fine wove paper; no wrapper; a few rare, early artist's proofs exist. Printer not known" (p. 137). She then provides a list of the 12 prints and their dimensions. On the basis of her titles, we list our holdings. According to Johnson, "the Vollard impressions reveal a slight puncturing of the plates a few mm. within the top and bottom center of the plate mark." Some of our impressions show those "puncturings"; the others are impressions that were printed after the Vollard editions but tried to mask the cancellation holes so that they appear to be earlier. They are, it must be noted, still quite good impressions. In addition to the small editions published by Vollard, at least one of the prints was published in one of Duret's books on the French impressionists, Manet and the French Impressionists (1910). The paper for this print is considerably smaller than that for the other two prints with the cancellation holes.
Select bibliography: Kathleen Adler & Tamar Garb, Berthe Morisot (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1995), M. L. Bataille & G. Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot. Catalogue des peintures, pastels et aquarelles (Paris, 1961), Anne Higonnet, Berthe Morisot (NY: Harper & Row, 1990), Anne Higonnet, Berthe Morisot's Images of Women (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1992), Philippe Huisman, Morisot: Charmes, Rythmes & couleurs (Lausanne: International Art Book, 1962), Elizabeth Mongan, Berthe Morisot. Drawings, pastels, watercolors, paintings (NY: Shorewood 1960), Art Gallery of Ontario, Berthe Morisot and her circle: Paintings from the Rouart Collection, Paris (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1952), Jean Dominique Rey, Berthe Morisot (New York: Crown, 1982), Charles F. Stuckey, & William P. Scott, Berthe Morisot (New York/South Hadley: Hudson Mills Press/Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, 1987. Published in conjunction with the exhibition held at the National Gallery of Art, Sept.-Nov. 1987), Paul Valèry, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895). Catalogue d'oeuvres exposès (Paris, Musèe de l'Orangerie, 1941).
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Edouard Manet (French, 1832-1883), Portrait of Felix Bracquemond (Fisher 31 ii/ii, Melot 39). Original pen-process etching, 1865. The print was never published during his lifetime; it was published in 1906 as a frontispiece in Moreau-Nélaton's catalogue raisonné of Manet's prints. According to Fisher, Manet uses a technique invented by Bracquemond for the only time in this etching. Inscribed bottom: "Felix Bracquemond / Croquis Original à L'eau-forte par Manet (1865)." Bracquemond was an engraver and painter; he taught Manet who to make etchings. A very good impression of this rare work. Image size: 160x112mm. Price: $5250.
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Edouard Manet (French, 1832-1883), Berthe Morisot (Guerin 59, Harris 57). Original etching and drypoint, 1872. The print was never published during Manet's lifetime; it was published in 1894 by Dumont and in 1905 in an edition of 100 by Strolin (from which ours comes). After the plate was cancelled, it was also published in the English and German editions of Duret's Manet & the French Impressionists (1910). Berthe Morisot was an important Impressionist artist and the organizer of the Impressionist's exhibitions during her lifetime. A beautiful sharp impression with much more plate tone than my photo shows. Morisot was Manet's good friend and later married his brother. Her daughter Julie Manet was a favorite subject of Renoir (click here for several examples). Image size: 120x79mm. Price: $5250.
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Edouaord Manet (French, 1832-1883), Berthe Morisot (Guerin 59, Harris 57). Original etching, 1872. A beautiful sharp impression as published in Duret, Manet and the French Impressionists (London, 1910). A rich impression with the cancellation punches. Morisot was Manet's good friend and later married his brother. Image size: 120x79mm. Price: 2500.
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Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Berthe Morisot (Stella 4). Original drypoint, c. 1892. First published in Duret's "Renoir" (1924), our impression seems to be a trial proof before Duret on laid paper with no watermark but without the printed text "II. – PORTRAIT DE BERTHE MORISOT." A very sharp impression with great detail and plate tone. Signed in the plate. Stella notes some reprints in limited editions, but this seems much too good to be one of them. Image size: 108x91mm. Price: $3500.
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Pierre August Renoir (French, 1844-1919), Berthe Morisot (Stella 4). Original drypoint, c. 1892. This drypoint was published in the first edition of Theodore Duret's Renoir. Stella notes "some reprints in limited editions," of ours is a fair impression where the dark areas read clearly and are still sharp. Image size: 108x91mm. Price: $1500.
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Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Le chapeau épinglé: La fille de Berthe Morisot et sa cousine. Premiere planche (Stella 6). Original etching, c. 1894. Only state. This portrait of Julie Manet (Berthe Morisot's daughter and Edouard Manet's niece) and her cousin was published in Theodore Duret's Manet and the French Impressionists (London: G. Richards, 1910). There was also a later printing for the German edition published in Berlin in 1914. Ours is a very good impression from the 1910 edition (the first printing of Renoir's etching): all lines are crisp and clear; moreover the rich plate tone tells us that not many impressions had been pulled prior to this one. Signed in the plate lower right corner. An uncommon print in very good condition. Image size: 116x82mm Price: $5000.
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Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Claude Renoir, tourné à gauche / Claude Renoir, turned to the left (Stella 40 ii/ii, Roger-Marx 15). Original lithograph, c. 1904-1905. 1000 impressions (50 on japon, 950 on vellum, as ours) for Vollard's Douze lithographes originales de Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1919). Claude Renoir (1901-1969), nicknamed "Coco," was the youngest son of the artist; he would have been 3-4 years old when his father drew this lithograph. This was the first and only edition: the stone was effaced after printing. Signed in the stone lower right. Image size: 128x118mm; paper size: 326x248mm. Price: $6500.
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Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Buste d'enfant, tourné à droite (Stella 22). Original softground etching, c. 1908. Published in Theodore Duret's Die Impressionisten (Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1914). The subject appears to be Claude Renoir, the youngest of the artist's three sons. A very fine impression on laid paper. Collector's stamp on verso. Image size: 150x105mm. Price: $3350.
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Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Richard Wagner (Stella 33, Roger-Marx 8). Original lithograph, c. 1900. 100 unsigned impressions (most, like ours, on Arches measuring 637x478mm, though a few are on Japan paper) and 50 signed impressions on Japan paper. Roger-Marx suggests that the lithograph is based upon Renoir's two portraits of Wagner (1813-1883), one from the life in Palermo (Jan. 1882) in 35 minutes, the other, now owned by the Musée d'Orsay, in 1893. The stone was effaced after printing, so there are no later impressions. An important work in a relatively small edition. Image size: 435x320mm. Price: $6000.
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Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917), Madame Nathalie Wolonska, State I (MFA 11, Delteil 7, Adhemar 14). Original etching, c. 1860-c. 1867. There exist only 2 proofs before the plate was canceled. After Degas' death, Vollard published an edition of 150 impressions on what appears to be japon nacre paper from the cancelled plate. Ours is an impression from Vollard's edition (c. 1919-20). Madame was the godmother of Degas' niece. In 1860, she was living in Paris. It has been suggested that Degas may have been working from a photograph (a daguerreotype). Degas' etchings are extremely rare, and there has been constant demand for Vollard's edition. Image size: 119x87mm. Price: $2500.
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Eva Gonzalès (French, 1849-1883), An actress with a mask. Brush and black ink and wash with white gouache heightening and black chalk on tan wove paper. Initialed in pencil upper right recto with a small "E" within a large "G"; signed or inscribed "Eva Gonzales" verso in pen (this signature is very close to that illustrated in Marie-Caroline Sainsaulieu and Jacques de Mons, Eva Gonzales. 1849-1883. Etude critique et catalogue raisonné, n. 62, p. 155, c. 1873-74); see below for photo. The earrings that the actress is wearing are similar to the very elaborate earrings that the artist is wearing in a photograph of her in Sainsaulieu and Mons, p. 5, which depicts a long elaborate earring with three separate levels in her own ear. Vertical tear top center; diagonal tear bottom right. Paper losses at corners. Image size: 296x220mm (11-3/4x8-3/4 inches). Price: $275,000.
To see the entire sheet, please click here.
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Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926), Margot wearing a bonnet I (B. 179). Original color drypoint, c. 1902. Printed for the artist in 1923 by Delatre. Only known state. Included in the Smithsonian Touring Exhibition, Mary Cassatt: Graphic Art. Ours is a very sharp and rich impression with very good fresh colors; this particular impression is clearly colored by hand, not as part of the printing process. Image size: 233x165mm. Price: $8950.
For more works by Cassatt, please click here.
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Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926), Margot wearing a bonnet III (B. 181). Original drypoint, c. 1902. Printed for the artist in 1923 by Delatre. Only known state. Included in the Smithsonian Touring Exhibition, Mary Cassatt: Graphic Art. Ours is a rich impression on Cassatt's favorite blue-gray color paper. Image size: 235x160mm. Price: $7500.
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Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926), Looking into the hand-mirror II (B. 202). Original drypoint, c. 1905. Only known state. One of her most delightful images. Image size: 200x140mm. Price: $6500.
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Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926), Looking into the hand-mirror III (B. 202+). Original drypoint, c. 1905. Only known state. Included in the Smithsonian Touring Exhibition and its catalogue, Mary Cassatt: Graphic Art. A very good impression of a somewhat rare piece, listed by Breeskin as "newly discovered." Image size: 208x147mm. Price: $6950.
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Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926), The Manicure (B. 199 ii/ii). Original drypoint, c. 1908. A good impression with lots of detail in the plate. Cassatt was the only American to exhibit her works with the Impressionists. Her drypoints were quick sketches made directly on on copperplates and have all the immediacy of drawings. Image size: 209x150mm. Price: $6950.
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Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926), Denise holding her child (B. 204 ii/ii). Original drypoint, c. 1905. Printed for the artist in 1923 by Delatre. One of the artist's most tender depictions of the bond between child and adult. A very fine impression on tannish-gray laid paper with an unreadable watermark: all lines print very clearly and there is strong contrast between the lines across the child's chest and Denise's hair and the background. Like all of Cassatt's drypoints, good impressions (such as this) are scarce. Three rust marks outside the platemark not affecting the image and invisible when matted. Image size: 209x146mm. Price: $6800.
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Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926), Sara Smiling (B. 195). Original drypoint with hand-coloring,, c. 1904. Printed for the artist in 1923 by Delatre. A fair impression with hand-coloring. Although Breeskin notes that "some impressions are printed in color," this particular impression in clearly colored by hand, not as part of the printing process. Image size: 196x136mm. Price: $4950.
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Paul Cezanne (French, 1839-1906), Guillaumin au pendu (Salomon 2 ii/ii). Original etching, 1873. Edition unknown (c. 1000 unsigned impressions). The poet and painter Armand Guillaumin was Cezanne's friend and probably introduced him to etching. Here we see him sitting beneath the sign of the inn, Le Pendu / The Hanged Man. A good impression on laid paper with large margins. Some plate tone; detail in the dark areas on the underside of the hat brim. Image size: 174x103mm. Price: $2750.
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Paul Cezanne (French, 1839-1906), Head of a young woman (Salomon 4 iii/iii, Cherpin 4 iii/iii). Original etching and roulette printed in color, 1873. Edition: 1000 impressions partially signed in the plate lower right for Ambroise Vollard's Cezanne (Paris, 1914), of which 150 were on Japon paper, 650 on "papier teinte," and 250 (of which ours is one) on oversize paper with deckled edges. Signed in the plate. The first two states are very rare; the third is the state that was published after the plate was cut down in size. A very good impression with large margins. Michel Melot, The Impressionist Print (Yale University Press, 1996) says, "The most elaborate of Cezanne's etchings is the Head of a Girl, with the shadow in the background worked over with a roulette. Whereas the landscapes are presented without any reworking, this simple, regular face, seen in close up and head on against quite a strong back light with its attendant shadows, has been made more dramatic: the hair is a tangle of lines, there are acid spots everywhere and the eyes are black dots." This is the best impression of this print that we have ever seen. Image size: 120x95mm. Price: $4500.
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La femme aux figues (Guerin 88; Mongan, Kornfeld, Joachim 31 III/III). Original etching and lavis on zinc, 1899. First published in the portfolio, Germinal in an edition of 100 impressions in greenish-gray ink. At some point after this edition, the plate was cut down on the right side from 268x444mm to 268x418mm. 10 impressions from this were printed by Madame Delâtre, widow of the printer of the impressions for Germinal, who then cancelled the plate by gouging 2 XX lower right in the cloth next to the figs. In 1966, the plate was purchased and perhaps as many as 1000 impressions were made from it. Our impression is a very good early impression from this edition. In later impressions, much of the background hatching wears away and no longer prints; the central image also deteriorates and the double X is no longer visible. Although Guerin denied that Gauguin executed this work (noting that "Chez Seguin à St. Julien" is etched into the upper left crosshatching), more recent scholars point out that Gauguin was still alive when Germinal was first published and never disclaimed his authorship of the work and that Seguin never claimed it. See, in particular, Caroline Boyle-Turner, The Prints of the Pont-Avon School: Gauguin and His Circle in Brittany (NY: Abbeville, 1986), G. 5b, for her judicious account of the critical debate on this work, which had been considered, according to Print Collector I (1972), 71, "one of the most meaningful engravings in contemporary French art." See also the meticulous account in the Gauguin print catalogue raisonné by Mongan et al. In Dec. 2005, another posthumous impression of this etching sold at auction in France for $7321. Image size: 265x418mm. Price: $7000.
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Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to spaightwood@gmail.com.
We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
We also accept wire transfers and paypal.
For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.
Go back to the top of this page.
Visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 pm and other times by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
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