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Belle Époque

Belle Époque painters headline Heritage Auctions’ European art sale Dec. 7

Louis Marie de Schryver (French, 1862-1942), ‘Paris - La rue du Havre,’ 1893, oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/2 inches (73.7 x 92.7 cm), signed and dated lower right: ‘Louis De Schryver / 1893.’ Heritage Auctions image
Louis Marie de Schryver (French, 1862-1942), ‘Paris – La rue du Havre,’ 1893, oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/2 inches (73.7 x 92.7 cm), signed and dated lower right: ‘Louis De Schryver / 1893.’ Heritage Auctions image

 

DALLAS – The vitality and excitement of Belle Époque, with its emphasis on elegance and fashion, modernity, urbanization, consumerism, color and creativity, is expressed in a host of masterworks by a fine array of blue-chip artists represented in Heritage Auctions’ Fine European Art Auction Dec. 7 in Dallas. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

“Whether it’s the urban landscape with its dramatic boulevards, sophisticated portraits or depictions of daily life in Paris, Heritage Auctions’ Fine European Art auction has something for every collector,” said Ariana Hartsock, consignment director for European art at Heritage Auctions. “The energy of this lively time in the ‘City of Light’ between the Franco-Prussian War and the beginning of World War I can be seen in the auction’s top lots by Louis Marie de Schryver, Jean Béraud, Paul Helleu and Edgar Degas.”

De Schryver’s tour de force (above; est. $200,000-$300,000) is an astonishingly naturalistic scene of women purchasing a blaze of floral bouquets from a vendor outside the recently renovated Gare Saint-Lazare, the largest and busiest railway station in France. Here, modern life is beautiful and genteel, but also fast-moving. Jean Béraud’s luminous view down the Champs-Elysées is full of spirited brushwork emphasizing the brisk pace of city life, its clattering carriages and bustling pedestrians (below; est. $250,000-$350,000).

 

Jean Béraud (French, 1849-1935), ‘Sur les Champs Élysées, 1892,’ oil on canvas, 25 1/2 x 32 inches (64.8 x 81.3 cm), signed and dated lower right: ‘Jean Béraud / 1892.’ Heritage Auctions image
Jean Béraud (French, 1849-1935), ‘Sur les Champs Élysées, 1892,’ oil on canvas, 25 1/2 x 32 inches (64.8 x 81.3 cm), signed and dated lower right: ‘Jean Béraud / 1892.’ Heritage Auctions image

 

According to Dr. Marianne Berardi, senior fine art expert for Heritage Auctions, “Béraud achieved a cinematic quality in this and his other major scenes of the Parisian capital by painting from a custom-made carriage which served as a mobile painting studio. He was thus able to drive straight into the action, and record what was going on all around him.”

Portraits by Paul Helleu and Edgar Degas are fine examples of an Impressionistic approach to modern subjects from the period. Helleu’s Madame Helleu aboard the yacht Bird (below; est. $200,000-300,000) portrays his wife, Alice, lounging gracefully on the deck of the yacht, protected from the sun by her parasol. As Heritage Auctions’ European Art specialist Janell Snape notes, “Helleu’s financial success as a painter enabled him to indulge in a luxurious lifestyle which included yachting. In the present work, the cool palette and the quick, loose brushstrokes create a sense of a quick breeze filling the yacht’s sails.”

 

Paul César Helleu (French, 1859-1927), ‘Madame Helleu aboard the yacht Bird,’ oil on canvas, 23 x 25-1/2 inches (58.4 x 64.8 cm), signed lower left: ‘Helleu.’ Heritage Auctions image
Paul César Helleu (French, 1859-1927), ‘Madame Helleu aboard the yacht Bird,’ oil on canvas, 23 x 25-1/2 inches (58.4 x 64.8 cm), signed lower left: ‘Helleu.’ Heritage Auctions image

 

The auction includes a historically important pastel portrait by Degas from 1904 of the artist’s friends, Monsieur and Madame Louis Rouart (est. $100,000-$150,000). It is one of the last portraits Degas ever created, and explores the tension in the Rouarts’ relationship as well as a new portrait formula for a married couple.

 

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