Lot 862 | Henri Rousseau | Nature morte aux verres et aux faiences

ROUSSEAU, HENRI
('"Le Douanier Rousseau"')
1844 Leval - 1910 Paris

Title: Nature morte aux verres et aux faiences.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 30,5 x 50cm.
Notation: Monogrammed lower left: H.R.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.

Copies of the certificates of authenticity from Maximilien Gauther (1964), MM. Pierre Couthion and Sonia Delaunay (both 1968=) are available.

Exhibitions:
Galerie Wildenstein, New York 1963, catalog no. 34.

Provenance:
Auction Hotel Rameau, Georges Blanche, Versailles 12.06.1969, lot 84;
Auction Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich 24./25.05.1971, no. 1510;
Private ownership, Germany;
Private ownership, Greece.

Henri Rousseau is one of the most important representatives of so-called "Naïve Painting". The name of this movement simply goes back to the profession of the artists: their followers did not undergo the classical training within an art academy, but were self-taught. Modern primitivism is characterised by a reduction of form. Often the objects depicted have a childlike character; they focus on the mundane - on the things that received little attention from the academy. The primitive and simple were to be celebrated in their simplicity.
Rousseau, who was actually a customs officer, exhibited in the well-known salons of his time. At first, the public mocked his art. From the great representatives of the avant-garde, however, he received full-bodied recognition for his work. His artistic talent was so inspiring that from then on he associated with the relevant personalities of his century - Gaugin, Seurat, Pissarro, Redon and Picasso belonged to this exclusive circle. Especially the extraordinary exotic jungle depictions brought him artistic fame.
The present painting called "Nature morte" is one of the few still lifes that Rousseau produced. He shows a wide variety of everyday objects juxtaposed in their materials, thereby creating a quiet poetry of the profane. The present work has many similarities with Cezann's still lifes: they are free of symbolic content; they represent much more formal and colourful characters of the objects and their relationship to - and with - each other. The different textures of the various materials are clearly the focus of the work. The shimmering glass of the carafe and the glasses contrast with the colourfully striped stoneware. The accumulation of round shapes, which are in harmony and correspond with each other, also comes to the centre of attention.