For the Love of Barnes: The Collection of Dr. Richard J. Wattenmaker

Provenance:

The Helena Ruberstein Collection.

Her sale, Parke-Bernet, April 27, 1966, lot 43.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Exhibited:

"The Art of Jean Hugo," Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, May 19-June 27, 1973, no. 45 (as tempera on canvas).

Literature:

Richard Wattenmaker, The Art of Jean Hugo, Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario, 1973, p. 75, pl. 47 (illustrated).

Jean Hugo: Une Rétrospective, an exhibition catalogue, Actes Sud, Montpellier, 1995, no. 51 (illustrated).

Note:

Despite his illustrious lineage (he was the great grandson of famed novelist Victor Hugo), Jean Hugo was an autodidact who successfully made a name for himself as a stage and costume designer, portraitist, illustrator, and landscapist. Brought-up in a well-to-do circle in Paris, Hugo developed his expert style while a poilu during WWI and after the war by working for important names of French theater such as Jean Cocteau or Raymond Radiguet. In 1929, after years of Parisian frenzy, he retreated to his Estate in Lunel, near Montpellier - “a country where he could paint centaurs, witches, unicorns and saints under fig trees” says Patrick Jourdan. 

Hugo’s work, traditionally colorful gouaches executed in a very small format, is marked by a strong sense of detail and precision. Mixing real life with fantastical, sometimes even magical, elements, Hugo created timeless and lyrical scenes, which channeled a medieval aesthetic to, in the end, form a “precious and marvelously colored image of a universe that one can hold in their hand” as Emmanuel Boudot-Lamotte commented in 1941. 

The many works on offer in the Wattenmaker sale are fresh, and important examples of the artist’s poetry. They also speak to Hugo’s evolution of style, and various influences throughout his sixty-year long career. From the two striking and mature oils that are La Cuisine du Presbytère (Lot 41) and Intérieur Bleu (Lot 69), which undoubtably evoke Hugo’s fascination with the Master colorist Henri Matisse, to gouaches such as the classicized Le Plafond (Lot 14), which channels Picasso and the Surrealists (to whom he was introduced by his wife, Valentine Gross), as well as Sous-Bois au Verdus (Lot 199) and study for Le Petit Luc (Lot 81) – clear evocations of le Douanier Rousseau, Hugo was able to transform different versions of reality into a fantastical, and bold dream.

Richard and his wife Eva Wattenmaker collected Jean Hugo extensively. This sale marks the first time so many works by the artist are offered at once on the open market – a unique opportunity timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the artist’s passing, which is currently celebrated in France through three major retrospective exhibitions in Lunel, Montpellier and Sète.

The unlined canvas in overall good condition, with no sign of inpainting under UV light. Light craquelure at center right (on the canvas) and at bottom center (on the ground). With minor abrasions at bottom left corner.
Frame: 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 1 in.
Framed under glass.

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