Lake at the Edge of a Forest
- Date
- 1900–04
- Material
- Watercolor
- Classification
- Drawings & watercolors
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 18 1/8 × 23 3/8 in. (46 × 59.4 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 52:1948
NOTES
Paul Cézanne used his drawing materials sparely in his late watercolors as seen in this view of trees bordering a lake. He depicted the lake entirely with the negative space of the blank paper; he drew only the shorelines, allowing the body of water to be defined by its perimeter. Each individual brushstroke, even when layered with multiple transparent colors, remains clearly defined on the paper. The colors oscillate in the viewer’s eye between individual paintstrokes and constructed landscape.
This watercolor addresses many of these and other pressing questions about representation that the artist posed with his art throughout his long career. Although he exhibited early on with the Impressionists, like them, he was excluded from the art establishment of his own time until his final years. However, the abstract qualities of his art endeared him to generations who came after him, from the Cubists in the 1910s to Color Field painters in the 1960s.
This watercolor addresses many of these and other pressing questions about representation that the artist posed with his art throughout his long career. Although he exhibited early on with the Impressionists, like them, he was excluded from the art establishment of his own time until his final years. However, the abstract qualities of his art endeared him to generations who came after him, from the Cubists in the 1910s to Color Field painters in the 1960s.
Provenance
by 1936 - 1939
Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), Paris, France [1]
1939 -
Robert de Galéa, Paris, France, by inheritance from Ambroise Vollard [2]
- 1946
Julius Loeb (1873-1946), New York, NY, USA [3]
1946/12/24 - 1948
Fine Arts Associates (Otto Gerson), New York, NY, USA, and M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, USA (owned jointly), purchased from the Estate of Julius Loeb [4]
1948
Fine Arts Associates, New York, NY, USA, purchased remaining half-share from M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, USA [5]
1948 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Fine Arts Associates [6]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is John Rewald’s catalogue raisonné [Rewald, John. "Paul Cézanne: The Watercolors." Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983, cat. no. 537]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] Ambroise Vollard is listed as the owner in Lionello Venturi’s 1936 catalogue raisonné [Venturi, Lionello. “Cézanne: Son Art – Son Oeuvre.” Paris: Paul Rosenberg Éditeur, 1936, cat. no. 936]. Vollard died on July 22, 1939.
[2] Vollard’s will divided his property between his heirs and the de Galéa family. The de Galéa family received two-thirds of Vollard’s art collection [di Panzillo, Maryline Assante. “The Dispersal of the Vollard Collection.” In “Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde.” New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006, p. 259-262]. According to John Rewald in his 1983 catalogue raisonné [see unnumbered note], this watercolor passed from the Vollard Estate to Robert de Galéa [no. 537]. The executor of Vollard’s estate was Lucien Vollard, one of Ambroise’s brothers [see di Panzillo essay, note 2].
[3] It is unclear when the watercolor came into Julius Loeb’s collection, though it may have been through dealer Martin Fabiani, per Rewald’s catalogue that lists Fabiani as a dealer who had the work on consignment.
[4] Inventory card from the Otto Gerson Papers at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. [SLAM document files]; M. Knoedler & Co., “Sold Numerical” inventory card for stock number WCA1011, Getty Research Institute, Knoedler Gallery Archive. Rewald lists Marcel Kapferer (Paris) as an owner between Loeb and Fine Arts Associates/M. Knoedler & Co. Kapferer has been excluded from this provenance because documentation supports a direct transfer of ownership from the Estate of Julius Loeb to Fine Arts Associates/M. Knoedler & Co.
[5] M. Knoedler & Co., “Sold Numerical” inventory card, Getty Research Institute, Knoedler Gallery Archive [see note 4]. The handwriting on the date of sale is unclear. It appears to be 5/8/48, but this date is after the date of sale from Fine Arts Associates to SLAM. It is possible that the date on the Knoedler inventory card is 3/8/48.
[6] Bill of Sale dated March 8, 1948 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, March 4, 1948.
Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), Paris, France [1]
1939 -
Robert de Galéa, Paris, France, by inheritance from Ambroise Vollard [2]
- 1946
Julius Loeb (1873-1946), New York, NY, USA [3]
1946/12/24 - 1948
Fine Arts Associates (Otto Gerson), New York, NY, USA, and M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, USA (owned jointly), purchased from the Estate of Julius Loeb [4]
1948
Fine Arts Associates, New York, NY, USA, purchased remaining half-share from M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, USA [5]
1948 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Fine Arts Associates [6]
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is John Rewald’s catalogue raisonné [Rewald, John. "Paul Cézanne: The Watercolors." Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983, cat. no. 537]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[1] Ambroise Vollard is listed as the owner in Lionello Venturi’s 1936 catalogue raisonné [Venturi, Lionello. “Cézanne: Son Art – Son Oeuvre.” Paris: Paul Rosenberg Éditeur, 1936, cat. no. 936]. Vollard died on July 22, 1939.
[2] Vollard’s will divided his property between his heirs and the de Galéa family. The de Galéa family received two-thirds of Vollard’s art collection [di Panzillo, Maryline Assante. “The Dispersal of the Vollard Collection.” In “Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde.” New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006, p. 259-262]. According to John Rewald in his 1983 catalogue raisonné [see unnumbered note], this watercolor passed from the Vollard Estate to Robert de Galéa [no. 537]. The executor of Vollard’s estate was Lucien Vollard, one of Ambroise’s brothers [see di Panzillo essay, note 2].
[3] It is unclear when the watercolor came into Julius Loeb’s collection, though it may have been through dealer Martin Fabiani, per Rewald’s catalogue that lists Fabiani as a dealer who had the work on consignment.
[4] Inventory card from the Otto Gerson Papers at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. [SLAM document files]; M. Knoedler & Co., “Sold Numerical” inventory card for stock number WCA1011, Getty Research Institute, Knoedler Gallery Archive. Rewald lists Marcel Kapferer (Paris) as an owner between Loeb and Fine Arts Associates/M. Knoedler & Co. Kapferer has been excluded from this provenance because documentation supports a direct transfer of ownership from the Estate of Julius Loeb to Fine Arts Associates/M. Knoedler & Co.
[5] M. Knoedler & Co., “Sold Numerical” inventory card, Getty Research Institute, Knoedler Gallery Archive [see note 4]. The handwriting on the date of sale is unclear. It appears to be 5/8/48, but this date is after the date of sale from Fine Arts Associates to SLAM. It is possible that the date on the Knoedler inventory card is 3/8/48.
[6] Bill of Sale dated March 8, 1948 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, March 4, 1948.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.
