The Basket of Fruit

Joseph Hessel, Paris, France, purchased from the artist [1]

Galerie l'Art Moderne, Lucerne, Switzerland [2]

- still in 1943
Sir Michaël Sadler (1861-1943), Oxford, England [3]

- 1944
The Leicester Galleries (Ernest Brown & Cecil L. Phillips), London, England

1944
The Lefevre Gallery (Alex Reid & Lefevre, Ltd.), London, England, purchased from The Leicester Galleries [4]

1944 - still in 1947
Mrs. S. Kaye, England, purchased from The Lefevre Gallery [5]

Sam Salz (1894–1981), New York, NY, USA [6]

- 1958
Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil, St. Louis, MO, purchased from Sam Salz, Inc. [7]

1958 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil [8]


Notes:
The main source for this provenance is Dauberville's catalogue raisonné, cat. no. 873 (incorrectly dated 1916) [Dauberville, Jean and Henry. "Bonnard: Catalogue Raisonné de L'Oeuvre Peint 1906-1919." Paris: Editions J. et H. Bernheim-Jeune, 1966]. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[1] According to Sam Salz, the painting was purchased directly from the artist by Joseph Hessel [letter dated March 13, 1959, SLAM document files]. The catalogue raisonné, however, claims that the painting was acquired from the artist by Bernheim-Jeune in 1916 (see note [2]).

[2] The Galerie l'Art Moderne was a branch of the Parisian gallery Bernheim-Jeune [letter dated July 30, 2004, from Dr. hc. Angela Rosengart, SLAM document files]. According to the Lucerne address books, the gallery was active from 1927 until 1939 [email dated August 4, 2004, from Sylvia Rüttimann, Kunstmuseum Luzern, SLAM document files].

[3] Michaël Sadler was a major art collector and a renowned authority on secondary education. In 1934, a catalog of Sir Michaël Sadler's art collection was compiled; the handwritten catalog includes five works by Bonnard, among them a still life. Unfortunately, images, dimensions or dates are not provided in the publication [email from Heather Birchall, Tate Gallery, dated May 18, 2004, SLAM document files; "Catalogue of Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures in the possession of Sir Michael Sadler at the Rookery, Headington, Near Oxford," Vol.1. Prepared by M. L. Hutchinson, December 1934, p. 2]. An inquiry with Sir Michaël Sadler's descendants could not clarify whether the still life referenced in this publication might have been our painting [email from Tim Rogers, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, dated May 7, 2004, SLAM document files]. This picture was included in a 1944 exhibition of the collection of the late Michaël Sadler ["Selected Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture from the Collection of the late Sir Michaël Sadler." London: The Leicester Galleries, January 7 - February 10, 1944, cat. no. 77].

[4] According to correspondence with Lefevre Fine Art, The Lefevre Gallery acquired the painting from Brown and Phillips of The Leicester Galleries on February 11, 1944, and sold it to Mrs. S. Kaye on September 28, 1944 [email from Jacquie Cartwright, Lefevre Fine Art, dated April 15, 2004, SLAM document files].

[5] See note [4]. Mrs. Kaye lent the painting to The Lefevre Gallery for a 1947 exhibition ["Bonnard and his French Contemporaries." London: The Lefevre Gallery, June - July 1947, cat. 16]. The Lefevre Gallery probably sold the painting for Mrs. Kaye at a later date, as they sold many of her pictures on consignment, but they could not provide any documentation of a sale.

[6] Sam Salz left his native Austria in 1919 for Paris, where he soon became a part of the local art dealing community. He worked with renowned art dealer Ambroise Vollard, and also bought directly from artists including Derain, Vlaminck, Vuillard and Bonnard. In 1939 Salz moved to New York, where he continued to sell pictures to an elite clientele [National Gallery of Art, provenance website, www.nga.gov].

[7] Although there are no existing records of the sale from Sam Salz, Inc. to the Weils, the couple purchased a number of paintings from Sam Salz, Inc. [notes of telephone conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil's son, John Weil, and Emmeline Erikson at the Saint Louis Art Museum, February 18, 2005, SLAM document files].

[8] Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control and the Advisory Committee of the City Art Museum, December 12, 1958.