Antoine Vollon

Exhibited by Demisch Danant

Material Oil on canvas

Dimensions 81.5 × 65.5 cm

Place of Creation France

Price Available upon inquiry

Status Vetted

About the Work

This still life is an exercise in balancing contrasts and sensations. The objects, arranged on a heavy, ornamented carpet, each attract and reflect light in their own way, according to their volume and placement, and together they create a visual resonance. The porcelain vase is the principal object: it dictates the vertical format of the composition, and the surrounding objects harmonize with it. If this is indeed the painting Vollon exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1889, as suggested by noted expert on Vollon Carol Forman Tabler, the catalogue indicates that the work, then titled Potiche de Chine, belonged to the ceramics and porcelain collector Robert West, who also owned a lace factory in Calais, in

northern France.

The light reflected by the vase illuminates the ewer, and through successive touches of paint, the fruit too is traversed by light. Vollon allows himself the most striking contrasts, in full command of his palette and effects: the black grapes against the dark background, the lemon appearing without artifice, and the

peeled oranges revealing every nuance of their colors, and even their perfumes.

This painting was featured in a solo exhibition at the Galerie Raphaël Gérard in November 1937 and still bears the exhibition label on the stretcher, referencing the work as "no. 13 / Les Fruits."

Show moreless

Provenance

Collection of Paul Gadala (1874–1968), Paris;
Galerie Raphaël Gérard, Paris;
Collection of Ellen L. Parkinson, Medfield, Massachusetts (USA);
19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors, Christie’s, New York, 28 Feb. 1991, lot 57;
40th Anniversary Auction, New Art Est‑Ouest Auctions, Tokyo, 18 May 2024, lot 82;
Private collection, Paris.