1964.15.16: Studies of a Landscape, a Female Head, and a Cellist; verso: blank page
Drawings
This object does not yet have a description.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 1964.15.16
- People
-
Henri-Edmond Cross, French (Douai, France 1856 - 1910 Saint-Clair, France)
- Title
- Studies of a Landscape, a Female Head, and a Cellist; verso: blank page
- Classification
- Drawings
- Work Type
- drawing, sketchbook page
- Date
- 1897
- Culture
- French
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/6977
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Graphite on off-white wove paper
- Dimensions
- 16.3 x 12.1 cm (6 7/16 x 4 3/4 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
-
-
(not assigned): Recto, graphite, in arist's hand: … Et nous bâtirons la maison / joyeuse et nous élèverons la / cité nouvelle… (A. France) / Vigania [crossed out] / ficus / Pittosporum - Pittosporées - chine
-
(not assigned): Recto, graphite, in arist's hand: … Et nous bâtirons la maison / joyeuse et nous élèverons la / cité nouvelle… (A. France) / Vigania [crossed out] / ficus / Pittosporum - Pittosporées - chine
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
-
Marie Closset (pen name Jean Dominique), gift to May Sarton. given to May Sarton before Closset's death in 1952
May Sarton, gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1964.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of May Sarton
- Accession Year
- 1964
- Object Number
- 1964.15.16
- Division
- European and American Art
- Contact
- am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
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Descriptions
- Commentary
-
The words that Cross ascribes to the French writer Anatole France (Jacques Anatole François Thibault, 1844-1924) refer to contemporary utopian ideas about a future society. Cross had affinity with these ideas. With others in the Neo-Impressionist circle like Signac, Pissarro, and Luce he supported the anarchism of Jean Grave (1854-1939) by providing illustrations for Grave's "Les Temps nouveaux," which spread the ideas of Pierre Kropotkin (1842-1921). They dreamt of a so-called Golden Age that would become reality after the destruction of the bourgeois society. Cross visualised this golden age in paintings of sunbathed, harmonious gatherings at the waterside.
Interestingly enough, Cross's friend the painter Paul Signac called the Brussels house that he moved into in 1897 the "joyous house" and the "city of the future." Signac and Cross spent much time together in 1897, so Cross's note might be directly related to his friend's remark.
Related Objects
Verification Level
This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu