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Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
CLAUDE MONET and GEORGE W. THORNLEY Portrait de Poly
Lithograph printed in reddish brown on Chine appliqué, circa 1890. 223x162 mm; 8 3/4x6 1/2 inches, full margins. The deluxe edition of 25. Signed by both Monet and Thornley in pencil, lower margin. With Thornley's red ink stamp, lower center. Printed by Belfond, Paris, with the blind stamp (Lugt 225d, lower right). Published by Goupil, Paris. From L'Album de 20 lithographies d'après les tableaux de Claude Monet. A very good, dark impression of this scarce lithograph.
At the end of the 19th century, Monet (1840-1926), Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) rediscovered lithography as a medium both to recreate their artistic conceptions on paper and, simultaneously achieve widespread distribution of and acclamation for their work. These artists, who had invented new ways of transmitting impressions of light and color, engaged George William Thornley (1857-1935), an accomplished English lithographer and admirer of the Impressionists, to translate their designs into lithographs. The prints that emerged from these collaborative efforts are the only lithographs in color, save one by Pissarro, by these great Impressionist artists.
Until he met Thornley, Monet had evidenced no interest in making prints. Unlike Degas and Pissarro, who etched on copper and drew on stone or transfer paper, or Cézanne, Sisley and Renoir, who collaborated with Auguste Clot, the talented Parisian master printer, to create color lithographs, Monet either found printmaking too daunting or did not seek the public acclaim for his work that printmaking could provide. However, he was able to find a hospitable partner in Thornley. The resulting collaborative lithographs of landscapes, seascapes and portraits are informed with the elusive and shimmering light of his iconic Impressionist oil paintings.
This lithograph is based on Monet's 1886 oil painting of Guillaume Poly. The sitter is a local fisherman who frequently visited the inn where Monet was staying while he was working at Belle-Île-en-Mer in 1886.
