?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 60,000 - $ 90,000
JACQUES VILLION (GASTON DUCHAMP, 1875-1963) LE GRILLON. 1899. 50 3/8x35 1/2 inches. Condition B/B+: restored losses and repaired tears in margins and image; darkened overall. When Gaston Duchamp (Marcel Duchamp's older brother) arrived in Paris in 1895 he changed his name to Jacques Villon. During his early years in Paris he lived in Montmartre and worked, like so many of the other young artists, as an illustrator for l'Assiette au Beurre, Le Rire, Gil Blas and other periodicals. Villon left Montmartre in 1911, when he joined the cubist movement and became a successful painter. Montmartre's legend and grip on the international imagination unofficially began when Rudolphe Salis opened his famous Chat Noir. Yet prior to this event, the cabaret lifestyle had already been established on the left bank, in the Latin Quarter. When Montmartre began to really take off, many of the older cabarets on the Left Bank closed or moved. But Le Grillon held its own. Here, Villon incorporates several aspects of the club's offerings in his design. For the music, he depicts a singer in the background. The gentleman standing at a piano is generally considered to be Dominique Bonnaud, a chansonnier who was discovered at the Chat Noir. For libation, Villon emphasizes that the cabaret is an "American Bar," a trend in Paris in the 1890s, and he illustrates part of the elaborate bar, some of the beer taps and one of the cocktails that would be available to customers. And for the clientele, Villon presents his friend Jean Pierre Levée, who was a regular guest at the bohemian rendezvous that was Villon's studio on the rue Caulaincourt. He went on to become French ambassador to Venezuela. With his pronounced chin and nose, Levée resembled Valentin le Désossé (the figure depicted by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in his seminal Moulin Rouge poster). As a tribute to Lautrec, whose work he admired, Villon used Levée as the center character in this, his first large-format poster. Using only three colors, Villon renders the bold bohemian at ease in the club. Villon's excellent artistry employs vivid strokes in Levée's suit and crachis in the background (another nod to Lautrec). Lautrec's influence can also be seen in the hand-drawn lettering and also in the cricket (Le Grillon) shown raising a glass of beer, that is similar to the "remarques" that Lautrec liked to include in his works. But Villon had a very personal style and vision for his art, which separated him from Lautrec. Here he forgoes the flat tones that Lautrec would have incorporated into such a large format and instead employs a sophisticated and elaborate treatment. "Everything in it works to perfection: the priceless expression and imposing bearing of the main figure, the man at the bar, the lettering which in itself evokes the atmosphere of a smoke-filled bar, the cricket trademark — a masterpiece for all times." (Wine Spectator 65.) Weill 49, Word & Image p. 32, Maitres 1900 p. 53.
