Description: Artist: Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) After By Jacques Villon (1875-1963) Title: “The Card Players (Les Joueurs de cartes)” Description: Original etching aquatint in beige (after the original painting by Cezanne in 1890/92), c.1929, on Arches paper, hand signed in pencil by Villon and numbered 20 of 21 in pencil, a strong impression in good condition with typical signs of age; full margins and deckled edge. There was also a signed edition of 200; this is from the rare artist’s trial proofs in beige edition of only 21. Reference: Ginestet et Pouillon n° E 662. Image Size: 18x23” inches /Sheet size: 24x28”. Framed size: 33x37.25”. The antique gold frame shows signs of wear, as does the matting, glass has been removed. Printed by Editions Bernheim-Jeune, Paris. In the 1920s Villon (the brother of Marcel Duchamp) was commissioned to create “afters” based on some of the most popular paintings of the time, such as Picasso, Matisse, Renoir and others and published by the Louvre, Paris. The original painting hangs in the Metropolitan Museum Of Art (The MET) in New York City. Guaranteed authentic and accompanied with a lifetime certificate of authenticity. I have been working with original etchings and lithographs since 2004, please contact me with any questions, thank you. Discussion: “Cézanne was in his fifties when he undertook a painting campaign devoted to giving memorable form to a subject that inspired the likes of Caravaggio and Chardin. He was determined from the start—as we see in this sturdy Provençal scene—to make it his own. Cézanne carefully crafted this composition from figure studies he had made of local farmhands. Once he had puzzled-out his conception, he continued to fine-tune the poses and positions of the card players, until they—like the four pipes hanging on the wall behind them—each fell perfectly into place. Cézanne channeled the quiet authority he achieved here into a much larger variant (Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia) and punctuated the series with three works in which he pared away extraneous details to focus his gaze on a pair of players.” (-From The MET) “In 1920, the artist Jacques de Villon was commissioned by the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune to create aquatint engravings based on the canvases of several important painters including Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, and even Villon himself, “for the purpose of promoting Impressionism and supporting contemporary creation. … No photomechanical processes were used in this project and the resulting prints are miracles of the engraver’s art.” (Orozco,p. 16). Villon employed a painstaking and time consuming 18th century color engraving method using three and sometimes four plates to complete the final proof, in an effort to create a final print as true as possible to the original painting. After the original run of about 200 prints (plus several artist proofs) for the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, these plates were acquired by the Chalcographie du Louvre, which reissued an unknown number of the Villon prints in the mid 20th century, prior to Villon’s death. For an excellent explanation of Villon’s process as well as a detailed catalog of his prints, refer to Miguel Orozco, “The Prints of Jacques Villon Vol. 1” “The return to Paris in 1920 was hard for Villon. His brother Raymond had died in October 1918 having contracted typhoid while fighting on the front. Marcel kept in touch from New York where he was now living, while his youngest sister, Suzanne (and closer to Marcel in age and in character), married the Dada painter Jean Crotti and was setting out on her own artistic career in Paris. Villon had his first solo exhibition in the United States at the Societé Anonyme, New York, in 1921 but that event aside, he was unable to work freely on his painting since his involvement in the war meant he had no paintings to sell. Villon was obliged to accept two projects which consumed most of his time during the 1920s. For the review Architectures, published by the Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française, Villon engraved 36 detailed black and white architectural drawings made by Andre Mare, Louis Sue, and Paul Vera. For the other project (arranged for him by his new brother-in-law, Crotti) Villon worked for the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris making interpretation prints based on the works of modern artists such as Cézanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, and Modigliani. During the 1920s, he had such little time to spend on his own work that he etched fewer than twenty plates, all printed in black and white, and all in an abstract style. His lack of original output meant that his standing within the Parisian art world slipped considerably. The master printer Fernand Mourlot, who worked with many important artists and on interpretation prints, revealed in his second book of memoirs that Villon had described to him how Matisse had rebuked Villon (who had addressed him informally) by telling him to “call me Mr. Matisse”. Nevertheless, print curator William Lieberman explained that Villon worked on his commercial work without the aid of photomechanical processes and that “the resulting prints are miracles of the engraver’s art” (indeed, most of these plates have since been acquired by the Chalcographie du Louvre). Little by little, Villon’s finances improved and, after finishing the Bernheim-Jeune project, he was finally able to focus once more his energies on his own art.” Further discussion: “A more condensed version of this painting with four figures, long thought to be the second version of The Card Players, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. At 65.4 x 81.9 cm (25 3/4 x 32 1/4 in), it is less than half the size of the Barnes painting. Here the composition remains virtually the same, minus the boy, with viewers' perspective slightly closer to the game, but with less space between the figures. In the previous painting, the center player as well as the boy were hatless, whereas this version has all the men hatted. Also gone are the shelf to the left with vase and lower half of a picture frame in the center of the wall, leaving only the four pipes and hanging cloth to join the smoking man behind the card players. The painting is brighter, with less focus on blue tones, than the larger version. X-ray and infrared studies of this version of The Card Players have shown layers of "speculative" graphite underdrawing, as well as heavy layers of worked oil paint, possibly suggesting it was the preliminary of Cézanne's two largest versions of the series, rather than the second version as historically believed. The underdrawing has also led analysts to believe Cézanne had difficulty transferring the men, previously painted individually in studies, onto one canvas. It has been speculated that Cézanne solved this "spatial conundrum" in the final three versions of The Card Players, by eliminating spectators and other "unnecessary detail" while displaying only the "absolute essentials": two players immersed in their game. The scene has been described as balanced but asymmetrical, as well as naturally symmetrical with the two players being each other's "partner in an agreed opposition". The man on the left is smoking a pipe, wearing a tophat with a downcast brim, in darker, more formal clothing, seated upright; the man to the right is pipeless, in a shorter hat with upcast brim, lighter, more loosely fit clothing, and hunched over the table. Even cards themselves are contrasting light and dark hues. In each of the two-player paintings, a sole wine bottle rests in the mid-part of the table, said to represent a dividing line between the two participants as well as the center of the painting's "symmetrical balance". Of the three versions, perhaps the best known and most often reproduced is in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. It is also the smallest at 47.5 x 57 cm (17 3/4 x 22 1/2 in). The Orsay painting was described by art historian Meyer Schapiro as "the most monumental and also the most refined" of the versions, with the shapes being simpler but more varied in their relationships. It is the most sparsely painted, and generally considered the last of the Card Players series. There is a shift of axis to the scene, in which the player to the left is more completely in the picture, chair included, with the appearance of being nearer to us. His partner to the right is cut off from the scene at his back, and the table is displayed at an angle to the plane. Critics have described a "deception of restraint" in Cézanne's use of color; graduated area of thinly applied, "priming" color used for solid forms and their appearance of structure is met with lilac and green used to "liven" the canvas, as well as the bright, deep color used on the lower half for the tablecloth. This version of the series was also part of a high-profile theft of eight Cézanne paintings from a traveling show at Aix in August 1961. The most valuable of the stolen works, The Card Players, was released as a four-color postage stamp by the French government in recognition of the loss. All of the paintings were recovered after a ransom was paid several months later.”-From Wikipedia About the seller: Aside from being a professional artist, I have been working with original works on paper by 19th and 20th century modern and contemporary masters since 2004, with a focus on the great Salvador Dali. Regarding my fine art background and expertise, I take great pride in any original work on paper that I represent. The fine art world can be overwhelming and there are a lot of false experts, my goal has always been with educating the buyer. I have learned a lot in my nearly 20 years of working with fine art masters, as well as many highly reputable galleries and private dealers. All items I sell have been extensively researched, documented in the official catalogue raisonnes of the artists when applicable, and I provide a signed lifetime guarantee/ certificate of authenticity of the fine art I sell, legally binding me to my word. I stay away from dubious works of art, and if there is a concern I am unaware of I fortunately know the right people to ask. In 2000 after high school I moved from Connecticut to attend the George Washington University and was curator for Galerie Lareuse with expert Jean-Michel Lareuse for 11 years in Georgetown; member of the IFPDA (International Fine Print Dealers Association) specializing in original works on paper by 19th & 20th century masters such as Picasso, Dali, Chagall, Miro, Braque, Renoir, Leger, Matisse, Magritte, Kandinsky, Buffet, Dufy, Lautrec, Calder, Cassatt, Delaunay, Haring, Warhol, Degas, and many others. I oversaw and personally handled hundreds of original works on paper and was tasked with extensive research, appraisals, sales, certification, private acquisitions, as well as museum-quality professional framing. I assisted with transactions involving many prestigious museums and organizations, including a 2006 sale via Galerie Lareuse of Picasso's rare 1912 etching "Nature Morte, Bouteille" to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, a 2011 sale of Vincent van Gogh's very rare c.1890 etching "Portrait of Dr. Gachet", and a 2012 sale of a unique original gouache drawing by Sonia Delaunay which is now located in The Phillips Collection. I also assisted in the art estate of the late and great Eunice Shriver, and many other private collections in the DC area. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me as I am here to help! Kind regards, Kreg
Price: 5200 USD
Location: Key West, Florida
End Time: 2024-12-07T09:59:05.000Z
Shipping Cost: 250 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: Jacques Villon, Paul Cézanne
Unit of Sale: Single Piece
Signed By: Jacques Villon
Size: Large
Framing: Matted & Framed
Region of Origin: France
Year of Production: 1929
Item Height: 33 in
Style: Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Modern
Features: 1st Edition, Limited Edition, Numbered
Item Width: 37 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1925-1949
Image Orientation: Landscape
Signed: Yes
Color: Beige
Title: The Card Players : Les Joueurs de cartes
Period: Art Deco (1920-1940)
Material: Paper
Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Subject: Villon, Jacques Villon, Poker, Card Playing, Card Players, Paul Cezanne, Casino, Gambler, Smoking Pipes, Impressionist, Games, Les Joueurs de cartes
Type: Etching Aquatint In Colors
Theme: Art, Impressionist, Jacques Villon, Paul Cezanne, The Card Players, Card Playing, Gambling, Casino, Poker, Smoking Pipes, Gambler, Les Joueurs de cartes
Production Technique: Etching Aquatint
Country/Region of Manufacture: France
