Collect: American and European Art

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Provenance:

The Artist

The Estate of the Artist

By descent in the family of the Artist

Private Collection, United Kingdom

Exhibited:

New York, National Academy of Design, Allied Artists of America, Inc.

Lot Note:

Although modest in scale, this finely composed view of Annecy demonstrates Emma Fordyce MacRae’s signature approach to landscape, which rarely excludes human presence. Here, figures crossing a bridge animate the middle ground, yet their poses remain quiet and contained, embodying MacRae’s preference for stillness over narrative action. Even when in motion, her figures convey a timeless calm, and the overall composition is one of deliberate balance and quietude.

As the artist often did, MacRae uses both natural and architectural elements (namely the curve of the bridge, the clustered rooftops, and the vertical steeple) to create a taut spatial arrangement, as if artificially made from geometric shapes and blocks. Yet, the repetition of warm red and golden tones across the buildings and rooftops unifies the canvas, while the diffused light, likely painted with a dry brush or palette knife, softens the geometry. The result is a placid mood with luminous color, in the words of one critic.