Displaying items by tag: Edouard Vuillard

The Art Institute of Chicago announced that Gloria Groom has been named the chair of the museum’s European Painting and Sculpture department. She will now oversee the museum’s collection of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, early 19th-century, Impressionist, and Post-Impressionist art.

Groom, who is also currently the Art Institute’s David and Mary Winton Green Curator, is known best for her work related to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and has written about the work of Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard.

Art experts are searching for an eBay user that purchased a canvas for £3,000 in an online auction back in 2006. The painting, which depicts a couple eating oysters and drinking Champagne, was recently revealed to be an authentic work by the French Impressionist painter Édouard Vuillard. The canvas is estimated to be worth £250,000.

The discovery was made after experts on the BBC antiques program, Fake or Fortune, appraised a painting owned by a writer named Keith Tutt. Tutt had purchased the work, which was later revealed to be an authentic Vuillard painting, at an auction for a minimal amount. Robert Warren, the art dealer who sold the canvas to Tutt, stated that it had been one of a pair and that he had sold the other on eBay but could not remember who purchased it.

Fiona Bruce, co-host of Fake or Fortune, said, “We've done all the forensic and investigative work to prove it's genuine, now we just need to find the owner and tell them the good news. Someone, somewhere in the world is sitting on a fortune."

Christie’s Geneva will offer the jewelry collection of Hélène Rochas, wife and muse of the late fashion designer Marcel Rochas, on November 12, 2013 as part of its Magnificent Jewels auction. The 18-piece collection includes a ruby brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels (estimate: $190,000-$255,000), a rare leaping tiger brooch by Rene Boivin (estimate: $190,000-$255,000) and a pink topaz, aquamarine and diamond bangle by Verdura (estimate: $127,000-$190,000).

Rochas, who passed away in 2011, also maintained an impressive art collection that included works by Edouard Vuillard, Wassily Kandinsky and four portraits of herself by Andy Warhol. In 2012, Christie’s Paris organized a sale of her art holdings, which ended up breaking four world records.

Besides Rochas’ collection, the jewelry sale will include pieces once belonging to Bolivian tycoon Simón Iturri Patiño. Highlights include an emerald and diamond necklace by Cartier London (estimate: $7 million-$10 million) and a cushion-shaped F-color diamond ring of 32.65 carats by Chaumet (estimate: $2.2 million-$2.8 million).

After acquiring a considerable number of important drawings, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City has mounted an exhibition to showcase their recently added works. Spanning from the Renaissance through the 19^th century, the drawings were acquired through gifts, purchases, and bequests. Over 100 of these works will be featured in Old Masters, Newly Acquired.

The Morgan has greatly improved its Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Symbolist holdings by acquiring a number of works by such artists as Édouard Manet (1832-1883), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940), and Odilon Redon (1840-1916). The museum also acquired over forty Danish drawings including sheets by several Golden Age masters including C.W. Eckersberg (1783-1853) and Johan Lundbye (181-1848). The Morgan added to their British watercolor collection with works by John Martin (1789-1854) and Samuel Palmer (1805-1881). William M. Griswold, director of the museum, said, “The Morgan’s collection of drawings is among the finest in the world, and the institution has been very fortunate to have long-standing relationships with some of America’s most important collectors. This exhibition celebrates their connoisseurship and their commitment to the Morgan.”

Old Masters, New Acquired will be on view at the Morgan Library & Museum through August 11, 2013.

“I don’t paint portraits; I paint people in their homes,” Edouard Vuillard (1868–1940) famously said. Wallpaper, lamps, blankets and shawls, musical instruments, books, and paintings were all clues that revealed the taste and character of his subjects, at home in their habitat. His enthusiastic patrons, many of whom were Jewish, included his dealers, collectors, publishers, and theater impresarios. He, in turn became their chronicler, opening a window into their elegant world as he recorded the rich social and cultural life of fin de siècle France through 1940. Among this group were the three women who served as his muses during the various stages of the career of the bachelor Vuillard. They were, first and foremost, his mother; Misia Natanson, the kittenish concert pianist and wife of publisher Thadée Natanson; and the pugnacious Lucie Hessel, wife of art dealer Jos Hessel.