Page 73 - Expotime10_11_2017

Fakes and forgeries — Illicit traffic of looted heritage

Swan) Coburn (1856-1932). The art dealer Durand-Ruel
had bought it in 1881 from Renoir for 1,500 Francs; it was
sent to New York's Dependency in 1922 by Durand-Ruel
(1831-1922), Paris, and sold to Mrs. Lewis Larned (An-
nie Swan) Coburn, Chicago, on February 4, 1925, for $
100,000. One year after her death, the painting was
transferred to the museum. It has now been viewed and
appraised in about 80 exhibitions by professionals and
the public.
The signature and abbreviated dating equals all Renoir
paintings of the period. Source: Groom & Shaw 2014

“Soon after the painting was finished, the art dealer Paul
Durand-Ruel purchased it from Renoir as Femme sur une
terrasse au bord de la Seine for 1,500 francs, the sum
Renoir reportedly had received three years earlier for
the substantially larger portrait Madame Georges Char-
pentier and Her Children (1878; Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York [Daulte 266; Dauberville 239])... Given the
difficulties Renoir expressed in executing the painting
and the high price he received, one could speculate that
the work was commissioned by the dealer. The role of
Two Sisters (On the Terrace) as a promotional vehicle for
Impressionism began almost immediately, when a rare
color reproduction was published in late 1881 in L’art de
la mode... In March 1882 the painting was included in the
seventh Impressionist exhibition with the new title Les
deux soeurs... Durand-Ruel contributed twenty-five Re-
noir works from his stock after the artist refused to par-
ticipate because he perceived Paul Gauguin and Camille
Pissarro to be overly political... The following year the
painting reappeared under a third title — Femme sur une
terrasse (Chatou) — in Renoir’s retrospective exhibition
organized by Durand-Ruel and held on the boulevard de
la Madeleine... Although Two Sisters (On the Terrace)
was an eminently salable work, Durand-Ruel did not part
with it for nearly four and a half decades.... The painting
was reproduced as an etching in a full-page illustration
in Georges Lecomte’s 1892 account of Durand-Ruel’s pri-
Very early in its history, the painting already became fa- vate collection, one of a select number of Impressionist
mous in the public. See here a caricature from Charivari, paintings the dealer kept for himself... Not surprisingly,
where one can detect the painting in the upper left. March Lecomte presented Durand-Ruel as a visionary who at an
9, 1882 (!). Source: Groom & Shaw 2014 early date recognized the innovative accomplishment of
the Impressionists even while the French State remained
undecided. For Lecomte the works in Durand-Ruel’s pri-
The painting "Two Sisters (On the Terrace)" is signed in vate collection offered a complete history of Impression-
dark blue „Renoir. 81“ (see upper ill.) which means that ism and represented the best of each artist’s talent... In
it was painted in 1881. The original measurements are: his discussion of Two Sisters (On the Terrace), Lecomte
oil on canvas; 100.4 × 80.9 cm.
praised the color in the landscape elements and, in de-
scribing the figure of the young woman, commented on
By the way: Despite the (wrong) title Les deux soeurs, Renoir’s evocation of the Old Masters: “The insinuat-
the little girl was not the sister of the seated figure, ing and crafty grace of her sly face is accentuated by
who was the eighteen-year-old Eugénie Marie Darlaud, the malicious obliquity and alarming smile in her eyes.
known as Jeanne Darlaud, an aspiring actress and model She has the look of a modern Mona Lisa who knows all
of Renoir. The identity of the little girl was never lifted.
about love and seduction and is shamelessly flirting with
you.”... While the Durand-Ruel family owned the paint-
In the excellent and extensive documentation of the mu- ing, it appeared before the public in at least seventeen
seums Renoir collection one can read:
2
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EXPOTIME!, issue October / November 2017