WALTER GAY (American 1856-1937). The Pink Room, Le Breau. Oil on canvas. 21-3/4 x 18 inches (55.2 x 45.7 cm). Signed at ...

Description

WALTER GAY (American 1856-1937)
The Pink Room, Le Breau
Oil on canvas
21-3/4 x 18 inches (55.2 x 45.7 cm)
Signed at lower left: Walter Gay

Provenance:
Lytle Sloatsburg, New York

Exhibition:
Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 1980

Literature:
William Rieder, A Charmed Couple: The Art and Life of Walter and Matilda Gay, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, New York, 2000, p. 64.

Born in Massachustes, Walter Gay moved to Paris in 1876 to study painting. Ignoring modern art trends in Paris, he quickly became known for his meticulously detailed paintings of stylish interiors. By the 1890's Gay specialized in painting fashionable homes--both his own and those of his friends--which were lavishly decorated with 18th-century furniture and objets d'art. In 1928, Henry and Helen Clay Frick commissioned Gay to paint three rooms of the Frick residence in New York City (now the Frick Art Museum).

In 1905 he and his wife, Matilda, rented a chateau, Le Breau, in the French countryside near Fontainebleau. The house was built in 1705 and surrounded by 300 acres filled with old poplars and multiple, themed gardens. The present work depicts the Pink Room located on the ground floor of the the north wing that served as apartments for their frequent guests. The room was named for the luscious pink and cream toile de Jouy that Matilda had purchased from a fashionable store in Paris.

Le Breau served as a sanctuary for Walter and Martha Gay as well as their many notable guests who included Edith Wharton, Geoffrey Dodge, the Marquis de Ganay, Nelie Jacquemart Andre, Henry Adams and Ralph Curtis.

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