Transmission 19-2015 “Van Gogh assis, vu de dos” Discovery of the original print Uploaded at 3.15 pm 11 th May 2015 “Furthermore, Van Gogh hated the medium of photography and he never wanted to be in the photo. Of the three photos which have surfaced, two from his childhood. Only one photo shows a mature Van Gogh, in the company of Émile Bernard, but only his back when he is sitting on the embarkment*”. (Het Parool, article, 30.04.2015). “Bovendien had Van Gogh een hekel aan het medium fotografie en wilde hij nooit op de foto. Van de drie foto's die in het verleden van hem zijn opgedoken waren er twee uit zijn kindertijd. Slechts één foto toont een volwassen Van Gogh, in het gezelschap van Émile Bernard. Maar daarop zijn slechts de ruggen van de mannen te zien, terwijl ze aan het water zitten” (Het Parool quoting Van Gogh Museum Foto-expert, 30.04.2015). *Van Gogh assis, vu de dos. Connue des chercheurs car exposée à Amsterdam en 1990, ce cliché dont l’unique épreuve d’époque vient d’être retrouvée, montre Van Gogh vu de dos en conversation avec Émile Bernard (Cf. Sa seule photo (ou presque), Blog du journal Le Monde). Contents of Transmission 19-2015 : The Shoulders of Van Gogh Van Gogh in Conversation with Bernard, 2 Émile Bernard’s specific handwriting, 4 Van Gogh in conversation with Fénéon, 5 Bridges of Asnières, 6 Romantic Agony Summer Auction, 8 Two covers you have missed
Transcript
Transmission 19-2015
“Van Gogh assis, vu de dos”
Discovery of the original print
Uploaded at 3.15 pm
11th May 2015
“Furthermore, Van Gogh hated the medium of photography and henever wanted to be in the photo. Of the three photos which havesurfaced, two from his childhood. Only one photo shows a mature VanGogh, in the company of Émile Bernard, but only his back when he issitting on the embarkment*”. (Het Parool, article, 30.04.2015).
“Bovendien had Van Gogh een hekel aan het medium fotografie en wildehij nooit op de foto. Van de drie foto's die in het verleden van hem zijnopgedoken waren er twee uit zijn kindertijd. Slechts één foto toont eenvolwassen Van Gogh, in het gezelschap van Émile Bernard. Maar daaropzijn slechts de ruggen van de mannen te zien, terwijl ze aan het waterzitten” (Het Parool quoting Van Gogh Museum Foto-expert, 30.04.2015).
*Van Gogh assis, vu de dos. Connue des chercheurs car exposée àAmsterdam en 1990, ce cliché dont l’unique épreuve d’époque vientd’être retrouvée, montre Van Gogh vu de dos en conversation avec ÉmileBernard (Cf. Sa seule photo (ou presque), Blog du journal Le Monde).
Contents of Transmission 19-2015 : The Shoulders of Van Gogh
Van Gogh in Conversation with Bernard, 2
Émile Bernard’s specific handwriting, 4
Van Gogh in conversation with Fénéon, 5
Bridges of Asnières, 6
Romantic Agony Summer Auction, 8
Two covers you have missed
Number Eighteen of the weekly transmission has been uploaded on Monday, 11th May at 15:15 (Paris time).
Upcoming uploads and transmissions : Monday 18h MayMonday 25th May, Monday 1st June, Monday 8th June
Correspondence in English, French, Dutch, Russian, Italian, Spanish, German, Turkish.
All updates are available on our site:
www.photoceros.com
Discovery of the original print : :
“Vincent Van Gogh assis, vu de dos”
This lot is part of Romantic Agony Summer auction (June 19th & 20th)Daguerreotypes, calotypes, autochromes, documentary photography,
Public auction in Brussels on the 19th June at 2 p.m.
PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS
In Paris, 5, rue du Perche, near the Picasso MuseumFrom the 03/06/2015 to the 08/06/2015 10 am to 6pm
In Brussels, 40 rue de l’Aqueduc, near the Horta museumFrom 12/06/2015 to 19/06/2015 10 am to 6 pm
The auction will be also online with Drouot live
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Transmission 19-2015 Week 19 : May 11 - 17, 2015
"Van Gogh assis, vu de dos”Asnières, winter 1886-1887
Aristotype, 132x160 mm, later mount, caption in ink by Bernard onthe print, another handwriting on the folded mount.
Provenance : S. Clin, a collector of Émile Bernard’s paintings andmemorabilia, who lent this unique print to the Van Gogh Museum inAmsterdam for the Émile Bernard exhibition, August-Nov. 1990.
Nevertheless, most photographic and digital copies still reproduce a
post-1940’s version, printed from an inter-negative, the caption being
partially hidden by a blank label. The first confirmed publication was
in: Tralbaut, Van Gogh le mal aimé, Lausanne, 1969, page 210.
?
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Transmission 19-2015
This aristotype, or collodion coated paperprint, is the only vintage print known of thefamous picture welcoming visitors at theVan Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Sitting in front of Vincent Van Gogh, ÉmileBernard who wrote “mon portrait en 1886”(My Portrait in 1886).
Only few objective elements can confirmthe identification, the grey felt hat, theshoulders (see Pissarro, p.5). Émile Bernardis said to have only few friends.
The tree has no leaves, the weather couldbe cold. The date in the long secondcaption says 1887. In the Van Goghcorrespondence, mentions of Asnières startonly in 1887.
Who could have taken the picture? PaulSignac is knwn as a friend of both but noevidence of any photographic activity about1887 could be found.
Week 19 : May 11 - 17, 2015
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Transmission 19-2015
ÉMILE BERNARD (1868-1941)Handwriting examples
Comparison with the dedication to Émile Schuffenecker on a
photographic reproduction of a Vincent Van Gogh Portrait, 1991.
Émile Bernard’s handwriting is very peculiar, indeed, as any single
letter is dissociated. Although there wasn’t a broad interest for
graphology in the 1880’s, it is worth mentioning that the separation
of letters inside words is generally associated by “graphologists” with
a lack of synthetic thinking, which is ironic for an artist considered a
promoter of an artistic movement called “Synthétisme”.
Examples of Bernard’s writing are not so common, for example ”all
the letters from Émile Bernard to Van Gogh have to be considered
lost. There must have been a few dozen of them” (Van Gogh
Correspondence, Van Gogh Museum)”.
Week 19 : May 11 - 17, 2015
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Transmission 19-2015
The caption on folded margin
Translation of the French text :
[Émile Bernard in conversation withVincent Van Gogh on the Seine’sbanks at Asnières.
In 1887 both made a painting titled"Le Pont d’Asnières", bridge whichcan be seen in the background ofthis photograph.]
In this second caption, observing thehandwriting, all single letters aredissociated from one another again, butlook different from Bernard’s letters, forexample in “Asnières”. The angle of thewriting is quite different too.
Week 19 : May 11 - 17, 2015
a s n i è r e s A s n i è r e s
“Émile Bernard en conversation avec Vincent Van-Gogh -sur les quais de la Seine à AsnièresEn 1887 tous deux firent une toile intitulée “Le Pont d’Asnières” que l’on aperçoit dans
le fond de cette photographie.”
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Transmission 19-2015
Lucien PissaroVincent Van Gogh in conversation with Félix FénéonParis, winter 1887/1888
Black crayon on paper (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum).
An interesting description is given by Paul Signac when hecommented on meeting up with Van Gogh in 1887 in Asnières:
"I would encounter him at Asnières and at Saint-Ouen. Wepainted together on the riverbanks, we lunched at roadsidecafes and we returned by foot to Paris via the Avenues of Saint-Ouen and Clichy. Van Gogh, wearing the blue overalls of a zincworker, would have little dots of colour painted on hisshirtsleeves. Striking quite close to me, he would be yelling,gesticulating and brandishing a large size-thirty, freshly paintedcanvas; in this fashion he would manage to polychrome bothhimself and the passers-by”.
Week 19 : May 11 - 17, 2015
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Transmission 19-2015
ÉMILE BERNARD (1868-1941)Self-portrait with portrait of Paul Gauguin
Oil on canvas (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Émile often crosses Vincent’s path at Père Tanguy’sshop (Julien Tanguy, 1825-1894) and they regularly gofor walks from Montmartre to Asnières, then anenjoyable resort where his parents had a house. Émileis the real great friend, the fellow of Vincent in the year1887.
Bernard wrote the posthumous portrait of Vincent VanGogh for the art magazine La Plume, Sept. 1891:
"Red-heated (goatee, rough mustache, shaven scalp)with an eagle look and an incisive mouth, so to speak;of average height, stocky but not excessively so, withquick gestures and a gerky gait ; such was van Gogh,always with his pipe, a canvas or an engraving, or asketch.
Vehement in speech, interminable in explaining anddeveloping ideas, not given to controversy, that washim too ; and dreams, oh ! dreams ! Giganticexhibitions, artist's philanthropic phalansteries,founding of colonies in the South, progressive invasionof the public for that reeducation of the masses whoyet had known art in the past..."
Week 19 : May 11 - 17, 2015
“Bernard painted this portrait at Vincent’ request, who, inemulation of Japanese artists, wished to exchange works.
Van Gogh was delighted with it, describing it as “a few simpletones, a few dark lines, but [...] as elegant as a true, genuineManet” (Van Gogh Museum’s notice).
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Transmission 19-2015
VINCENT VAN GOGHBridges at AsnièresSummer 1887Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zurich
