Vente : Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 4ème Vente Atelier Degas, 7-9 avril 1919, lot 51b
Charles Comiot, Paris (acquis lors de la vente précédente)
Gustave Loiseau
Paul & Madeleine Loiseau (par descendance du précédent)
Acquis du précédent par la famille du propriétaire actuel en 1974

Paul-André Lemoisne, Degas et son œuvre, Paris, 146, vol. 2, no. 220, illustré p. 113 

Executed on buff-coloured wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is fixed to the mount along the edges. There are small losses (20x5mm) to the sheet at the lower and left edges (not visible when framed). The pastel does not appear to be fixed. There are eight artist's pinholes, two in each corner, and a 3cm repaired tear at the lower edge, towards the lower right corner. There are a few spots where the surface of the pastel is irregular, located mainly in the upper-left corner. Apart from some time-staining, this work is in good original condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

stamped 'Degas' and signed 'Degas' in pencil (lower left); pastel on paper. Executed circa 1869.

 

Comptant incontestablement parmi ses œuvres les plus innovantes, les paysages sont rares dans l'œuvre de Degas. L'artiste réalise le premier groupe du genre en 1869, lors d'un séjour sur la côte normande dans les environs de Cabourg et Villers-sur-Mer. Paysage, Soleil couchant et Maisons au pied d'une falaise datent de cette époque. Comme le suggère Richard Kendall dans la ཧm🌳onographie qui fait autorité :

"La série de plus de quarante paysages au pastel réalisées durant l'automne de l'année 1869 est sans doute la preuve la plus frappante, bien que fréquemment dénaturée, de l'accord de Degas avec l'œuvre de ses contemporains. N'ayant fait l'objet d'aucune exposition d'ensemble et pour la plupart inconnus, ces dessins 🐽peuvent être considérés comme le véritable accomplissement de la période pré-Impressionniste de l'artiste. [...]

On ne retrouve nulle part la répétition d'un modèle préétabli ou des bien connues formules d'un conventionnel peintre de paysages : les arbres ne cadrent pas le champ de l'image, les sentiers et les routes n'ont pas pour obje🤪t de suggérer la profondeur ; au premier plan, sont absentes les falaises et ruines lourdes de sens, tout comme les marins évocateur de récits édifiants. En effet, l'image pourrait presque être définie par de telles absences, si elle ne l'était par ces espaces ouverts au fort potentiel expressif. Dans ce monde discret, de simples oppositions de couleurs évoquent le climat, la luminosité, l'atmosphère et la gravité. De légères modulations de pastels décrivent les formes élémentaires de la terre et de l'eau ; de subtiles transitions tonales suggèrent leur récession ou leur mélange les unes avec les autres. Il s'agit d'un univers sans emphase ni anecdote, presque sans sujet. [...]

Nombre de pastels semblent avoir été librement improvisés sur le papier en de larges aplats de tons et de teintes, les contours et les composantes formelles ne cessant de se modifier à mesure que la composition se dessine. Lorsqu'il recourt à la ligne, c'est soit pour accuser ou lier entre elles les formes principales, soit, de la pointe du crayon, pour leur adjoindre un détail décisif. Dans l'un et l'autre cas, la technique de Degas est aux antipodes de la tradition ingresque et consacre le triomphe instantané et sans ombre aucune, de la couleur sur la ligne. Avant les paysages monotypés de 1890, elle reste sans équivalent dans son œuvre"
Richard Kendall, Degas Landscapes, New Haven & Londres, 1993, pp. 86-106.

 

Landscape﷽s are rare in Degas' œuvre, yet they remain among his most innovative and compelling works. Degas created his first important group of landscapes in 1869, during a trip to the Normandy coast around Cabour🌞g and Villers-sur-Mer. The following two lots date from this period, and as Richard Kendall notes in his seminal monograph:

"Perhaps the most striking, as well as the most frequently misrepresented, evidence of Degas' atunement to the work of his contemporaries is the series of more than forty landscape pastels made in the autumn of 1869. Never exhibited as a group and still generally unknown♏, these 🐽pastels can be counted among the seminal achievements of his pre-Impressionist years. [...]

Degas' innovations lie both with the compositions and the techniques employed, since "nowhere do we find the familiar conceits and trickery of the conventional landscape painter: trees do not🌄 frame our field of view, nor do pathways and avenues indicate recession; beetling cliffs and ominous ruins are not in evidence, and industrious mariners offer no uplifting narrative. The image might almost be defined by such absences, were it not for the spaces that are opened up and the expressive potential generated. In this understated world, simple oppositions of colours evoke weather and light, atmosphere and gravity. [...]

Pastel, which would later become the defining aspect of his technique, is used prodigiously by Degas. As Richard Kendall writes: "Now, he could use the medium of pastel, combining the effects of colour, line and tone in a single process that almost kept pace with his perceptions. With pastel, he could scatter powdery hues across the paper to indicate coffee-coloured sand or silvery-green sea, and touch in the fine detail of a roof-top or ship's sail.🍬 With pastel, too, he could respond to the finest nuances of the atmosphere, working rapidly as weather and wind began to change. Here, it is notable that almost all the seascapes and beach scenes are depicted under cloudy, overcast skies. None of them, however, is generalised, and each proposes a subtle variation on the theme of sea mist, sun-lit haze or impending rain. [...]

Many of the pastels appear to have been improvised freely on the paper in broad areas of tone and hue, their contours and formal components modified as the composition progressed. Where line is used, it is either a generalised, subordinate laying-in of principal forms, or a final sharpening of detail, executed with the edge of the pastel stick. In either case, Degas' technique represents the antithesis of the Ingresque tradition, a shameless and temporary triumph of colour over line which had no equal in his oeuvre until the landscape monotypes of the 1890s." (Richard Kendall, Degas Landscapes, New Haven & London, 1993, pp. 86-106).