Alfred Sisley (1839 - 1899)
Bords du Loing
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Oil on canvas
46.1 x 55.7 cm (18¹/₈ x 21⁷/₈ inches)
Signed and dated lower left, Sisley 90
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Provenance
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris
Christie's, New York, 19th November 1986
Mr & Mrs Edward Snider, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, by whom acquired at the above
Sotheby's, New York, 9th May 1989
Walter J Johnson, New York, by whom acquired at the above sale; his estate sale, Christie's, New York, 15th May 1997
Private collection, acquired at the above -
Exhibitions
Paris, Galerie d'Art Braun & Cie., Sisley, 30th January - 18th February 1933, no. 30
New York, William Beadleston Inc. Fine Art, Alfred Sisley, May - June 1983, no. 14
Hiroshima, Prefectural Art Museum, Monet and Renoir, Two Great Impressionist Trends, November 2003 - January 2004, no. 33,
p. 65 (illustrated); this exhibition later travelled to Tokyo, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, February - May 2004
New York, Hammer Galleries, Impressionist Masters, May-August 2013, p. 58 -
Literature
M Gauthier, Hommage à Sisley, L'Art Vivant, March, March 1933, pp. 116-117 (illustrated p. 177)
G Besson, Sisley, Paris, 1946, p. 56 (illustrated)
François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue Raisonné de L'Œuvre Peint, Lausanne, 1959, no. 727 (illustrated) -
Description
This work is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the Comité Sisley and will be included in the new edition of the catalogue raisonné of Alfred Sisley by François Daulte.
Alfred Sisley was born in 1839 in Paris but moved to London in 1857 where he became fascinated by the works of Constable and Turner. In Paris Sisley trained alongside Monet and Renoir, meeting to discuss the Impressionist style at the Café Guerbois. In 1874, he showcased his work at the first independent Impressionist exhibition and is consequently considered one of the founder members of Impressionism.
Bords du Loing was executed in 1890, while Sisley was living in Moret-sur-Loing. His local landscape was a constant source of inspiration and he continued to depict the banks of the Loing throughout the 1880s and 1890s. He was so inspired by the local scenery that in 1882, he wrote to Monet urging him to join him there. Many of Sisley’s most famous works were executed while living in Moret-sur-Loing, including Street in Moret, The Bridge at Moret-sur-Loing and Allée des Peupliers de Moret.
The Loing, in particular, was a favourite subject of Sisley’s, as Richard Shone observed: “Sisley seemed unable for long to resist painting works in which there was water to offer its reflections, and river-banks to provide constantly changing activities. He was indefatigable in his exploration of the Loing.”
This original work of art by Alfred Sisley is available for immediate purchase.
Artist's Biography
Alfred Sisley was born in Paris on 30th October 1839, the youngest of four children. His father, William, was an importer of luxury goods.
Sisley’s formal artistic training began in the studio of Charles-Gabriel Gleyre where he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who arrived in 1861, and Claude Monet and Frédéric Bazille who began their studies in November 1862.
After leaving Gleyre’s studio in 1863, Sisley, Renoir, Monet and Bazille continued their painting expeditions to the Forest of Fontainebleau, expanding the group to include Camille Pissarro as well as the painter Jules Le Coeur. In 1866, Sisley's mother, Felicia, died. This coincided with the development of Sisley’s romantic relationship with Marie Louise Adélaide Eugénie Lescouezec, a floral designer. On 17th June 1867, they had their first child, Pierre. Their daughter, Jeanne Adèle, was born on 29th January 1869.
In the 1870s, the Franco-Prussian War took a profound toll on Sisley’s life. The first blow was the death of Bazille on 28th November 1869 during a skirmish at Beaune-la-Rolande. The second blow was the confiscation of his living quarters in Bougival by the Prussian army.
On 27th December 1873 Sisley founded the Société anonyme cooperative d’artistes-peintres, sculpteurs, et graveurs, together with Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Morisot and Edgar Degas. The Société anonyme members rented space from the photographer Nadar at 35 boulevard des Capucines in Paris, and opened the doors to their first exhibition on 15th April 1874.
In April 1876, the second Impressionist exhibition opened at Durand-Ruel’s gallery, 11 rue le Peletier, with eight of Sisley’s paintings on display. The following year, the third exhibition again opened in mid-April, two weeks before the beginning of the annual Salon show. This time, Sisley exhibited seventeen paintings. Five years later, in 1882, Sisley exhibited with the Société anonyme for the last time, showing twenty-seven paintings.
Sisley participated in a variety of auctions and exhibitions at private galleries beginning in the mid-1870s, such as Durand-Ruel and Georges Petit in Paris. In 1890, he became a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, exhibiting six paintings at initial Salon at the Champs-de-Mars. Sisley would exhibit paintings at the 'new' Salon in 1891, 1892, 1894, 1895 and 1898. In addition, he had a one-man show at Boussod et Valadon in Paris in 1893, and a large retrospective of 146 paintings and six pastels at Galerie Georges Petit in February of 1897. The year 1898 ended in grief with the death of Eugénie in October. Within three months, Sisley was gone as well, perishing at home on 29th January 1899.
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