We wish to thank Mr. Didier Imbert for kindly confirming the authenticity of the present lot, which will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the artist's work, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Provenance:

The Artist.

Galerie Durand Ruel, Paris, acquired from the Artist, November 11, 1913.

Private Collection, France.

David Findlay Gallery, New York, 1966.

Sotheby's, New York, sale of February 18, 1988, Lot 25.

Richard Green Gallery, London.

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner.

Lot Note:

Illustrating a clear, bright day along a road in the village of Le Vaudreuil in Normandy, the present work is a superb example of Gustave Loiseau’s distinctly unique style, which he developed over many years of study. Considered one of the foremost post-impressionist painters, Loiseau was greatly influenced by the generation of impressionists who came before him, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro. Born in Paris to parents who ran a successful butcher shop, Loiseau was apprenticed to a house painter and then to a decorator, which aroused his interest in art. In 1887, he received an inheritance from his grandmother that allowed him to study art full time. He briefly attended the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs and then studied under the landscape painter Fernand Just Quignon.

As Loiseau was mostly self-taught, he shaped his style through close observation of nature and careful scrutiny of his impressionist forebears. Like them, he was a champion of painting en plein air, yet he developed his own artistic technique that used a distinct crosshatched brushstroke, called en treillis. This method created an evanescent quality and movement to his compositions and reveals the influence of pointillism in his work. As an admirer of the younger artist’s work, Claude Monet introduced Loiseau to the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who signed an exclusive contract with him two years later. The resulting financial independence allowed the artist to journey throughout France to paint various landscapes, ranging from Normandy and Brittany in the north to Dordogne, in the southwest.

Here, Loiseau has taken as his subject a charming road, Rue de l’Hopital, in the village of Le Vaudreuil. Nestled in the hollow of a valley and crossed by the river Eure, the artist depicted the village’s picturesque environs in several compositions. The vertical format of the present canvas, with the road centrally placed and leading towards two figures in the distance, creates a dynamic perspective. The medieval buildings enclose the space and create dark shadows that then dramatically open to the clear blue sky. Analogous to Monet, Loiseau explored in his canvases different atmospheric conditions caused by the surrounding landscape and bodies of water. The atmospheric clarity of the day is almost palpable, created using richly pigmented brushstrokes that scintillate across the surface in a careful patchwork of purples, blues, and ochres. This work masterfully highlights Loiseau’s experimental nature and his intuitive use of both impressionist and post-impressionist techniques to capture nature as it is experienced.

Framed: 30 1/4 x 26 1/2 in.

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