Louis Marie de Schryver (French, 1862-1942). L'avenue des Champs-Élysées, 1895. Oil on canvas. 21-1/2 x 29 inches (54.6 ...

Description

Louis Marie de Schryver (French, 1862-1942)
L'avenue des Champs-Élysées, 1895
Oil on canvas
21-1/2 x 29 inches (54.6 x 73.7 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: Louis de Schryver. 1895.
Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse: "L'avenue des Champs-Élysées" / Louis de Schryver / 1895

Property from the Merryl Israel Aron Family Trust

PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's, New York, May 23, 1990, lot 90;
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

A significant point of acclaim for de Schryver's work was the spontaneous effect that his paintings possessed. At the close of the 19th century, the people of Paris were out and about, the streets bustling with activity, with life. De Schryver himself was not immune to the excitement, taking to the streets to capture it all, along with many of his contemporaries, namely Jean Béraud, whose street scenes with carriages whizzing past as pulled by teams of high-stepping bay horses are now practically synonymous with Belle Époque Paris.

Both Béraud and de Schryver focused intently on detail capturing in the spirit of the zeitgeist in a way that can only be achieved through close and constant observation, producing work that has an almost photographic quality in its immediacy. And yet, as a painting, every inclusion is a choice, a conscious decision by the artist, an endorsement of de Schryver's brilliance. The popular image of an elegant, upper-class woman is the central motif, but the supporting figures make it real: the street washer hosing off the avenue, the birds pecking at a pile of manure that the street washer hasn't gotten to yet, and the two compelling gentlemen strolling arm in arm at center right, talking animatedly in each other's confidence. Each of these elements appear as though they have just run into the picture plane, as though a wave of the artist's hand would shoo them out of the background in an instant. The viewer is also confronted by the child, holding his single-masted toy ship flying the tricolore, and staring directly at the artist, at us! Terribly bored with shopping, he finds de Schryver's implied presence much more interesting, watching as the artist sits at his easel en plein air, jotting down the world with rapid brushstrokes. This virtuosic employment of realism explains de Schryver's rapid ascension to the upper echelons of academic painting.

De Schryver had a particular affinity for the women working as Paris's flower vendors, applying to them the same treatment as his society ladies. In sharp focus and soft colors, the central women foil one another. Likely influenced by his employment in the studio of portraitist Gabriel Ferrier in 1891, de Schryver draws forth exquisite detail. The rich, glittering silk of the lady's full, A-line skirt and billowing lightness of her white swiss-dot blouse, complete with the enormous gigot sleeves which experienced a resurgence in popularity starting in 1893, reinforce the status of the elegant figure; painted in 1895, she is at the forefront of fashion. Though stooped in labor, the flower seller herself cuts a dignified figure. She dons heavier, more utilitarian clothing, but it is clean and not in need of mending. In greatest contrast are their hands, a testament to de Schryver's extreme attention to detail. The society woman's spotless, white-gloved hands rest as her selected flowers, yellow roses, are prepared by the vendor, her metal shears glistening as she cuts the stems with muscular hands, her fingernails noticeably dirty.




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