PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION
GUSTAVE LOISEAU (FRENCH, 1865-1935)
Jonquilles au Printemps
signed 'G. Loiseau' (lower left)
oil on canvas
51 x 68.6 cm. (20 x 27 in.)
Painted circa 1902

Provenance
Mrs Molly Bellemonte, London
With Ohana Gallery, London, (as Iris by Lakeside) where purchased by
Private Collection
With Galerie Hopkins-Thomas, Paris
Private Collection
Their sale; Christie's, London, 24 June 1997, lot 178 (as Iris jaunes), where purchased by the present owner

This work will be included in the forthcoming Gustave Loiseau catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Didier Imbert. A certificate confirming this is included with the lot.

We are grateful to Didier Imbert for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

Gustave Loiseau (1865-1935) was a notable member of the Post-Impressionist movement that was established in France by the end of the 19th Century. In 1881 his parents retired to the picturesque countryside of Pontoise, in the north of Paris. Like other artists such as Cézanne and Pissarro, Loiseau became inspired by its beauty and artistic heritage. It became evident that Loiseau would not follow in the footsteps of his Father, who ran a butcher shop. Instead, he began to practice decorative art as an apprentice to a family friend.

Loiseau continued his artistic education at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs and in 1889 he practiced at the studio of the landscape painter Fernand Quignon (1854-1941). Under Quignon's tutelage, Loiseau honed his skills in landscape painting. From the summer of 1890, he began to frequent at Pont-Aven, in Britannia. Loiseau was a shy, nature-loving person; it was easier for him to reconnect in his surroundings with equal thinkers outside of Paris, such as Emile Bernard and Henry Moret, who resided in the same inn as him. Loiseau’s paintings from this period highlight the influence of the Pont-Aven School, known for creating the Synthesist movement that detached the new art from Impressionism and put forward a new perspective into the period of Modern Art.

Loiseau’s career flourished when he was introduced to the art dealer Monsieur Le Barc, who welcomed many of the Nabis and other Post-Impressionist painters at his gallery in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. His recognition was reflected in his successful sales and exhibitions. Loiseau joined the Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1893, exhibiting six paintings at their annual Salon in Paris. That same year, he participated in the Exposition des peintres impressionnistes et symbolistes at Le Barc de Boutteville. He began to frequently exhibit his works alongside other Post-Impressionists and in 1896 he was selected for the annual Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. When he died in 1935, the Salon des Independants honoured his life and work with a retrospective exhibition.