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Artist or Maker: Gustave Courbet (French, 1819-1877)
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Provenance: Anonymous sale, Hôtel Drouot, 26 November 1877, lot 6.
Collection Faure, Paris.
Collection Durand Ruel, Paris.
with Galerie Durand Ruel, New York, 1902.
Cyrus Hall McCormick, Chicago
Anita McCormick Blaine, his daughter.
Anne Blaine Harrison, her grand-daughter, thence by descent.
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Literature: J. Meier-Graefe, Corot und Courbet, Leipzig, 1905 (illustrated p. 199).
G. Geffroy, L'Art et les Artistes, October, 1906 (illustrated p. 260).
G. Riat, Gustave Courbet, peintre, Paris, 1906, p. 388 (illustrated p. 275).
L. Bénedicte, Courbet, 1913, pp. 95-96, pl. XL.
L'Art et les Artistes, no. 80, October 1927 (illustrated p. 24).
P. Mac Orlan, Courbet, 1951, pl. 47.
R. Fernier, La vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet catalogue raisonné, Lausanne and Paris, 1978, vol. II, no. 697, p. 86 (illustrated p. 87).
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Notes: THE PROPERTY OF A CALIFORNIA COLLECTOR
In the late summer of 1869, Courbet traveled to Etretat, a fishing village turned beach resort, which was famous for its towering coastal cliffs with their portal rock formations carved out by the relentless sea. The artist had recently finished a painting season at Trouville, where he worked alongside Monet, Boudin and Daubigny. In Trouville, Courbet painted a series of seascapes with calm water and muted tones but in Etretat, Courbet had the opportunity to paint the pounding, vicious surf that spoke to his soul.
'The sea! The sea with its charms saddens me. In its joyful moods, it makes me think of the laughing tiger; in its sad moods it recalls the crocodile's tears, and in its roaring fury, the caged monster that cannot swallow me up,' Courbet wrote to Victor Hugo in 1864 (P. ten-Doesschat Chu, Letters of Gustave Courbet, Chicago, 1992, p. 249, no. 64-18.)
Courbet was completely absorbed by the sea during his stay at Etretat. He had rented a house immediately on the water, and worked furiously during his time there. His interaction with his subject matter was intensely personal and visceral. This was not subject matter for a paintbrush alone, and Courbet builds up the pigment of the crashing surf with a palette knife, capturing the violence of the foam-tipped waves. After a visit to the artist, the writer Guy de Maupassant wrote: 'In a huge, empty room, a fat, dirty, greasy man was slapping color onto a blank canvas with a kitchen knife. From time to time, he would press his face against the window and look out at the storm. The sea would be so close that it would beat the house and completely envelop it in foam and its roar. Salt water would beat against the window frames like hail and rattle the casements. On the fireplace mantle, a bottle of cider is placed next a half-full glass. From time to time, Courbet would take a few sips, and then returns to his work.' Guy de Maupassant, 'La vie d'un paysagiste' in Gil Blas, 28 Septembre 1886.)
Twenty-nine canvases were the result of Courbet's sojourn in Etretat. Two of these were exhibited at the Salon of 1870 and were received with great acclaim. Courbet dubbed these canvases his paysages de mer. Contrary to the Romantics, who came before him, the unfettered ocean did not hold symbolic meaning to Courbet. His marines are simply the representation of a natural phenomenon, captured in all its splendor. 'Les vagues de peint par Courbet, des vagues hautes comme des maisons, rapellent part leur structure les grands rochers calcaires de sa Franche-Comte natale.' (Jorge Zutter and Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, Courbet - Artiste et promoter de son oeuvre, 1999, p. 145.)
This work was purchased from the New York gallery of Durand-Ruel by the American industrialist Cyrus Hall McCormick, the inventer of the reaper and the founder of International Harvester. This invention hastened the westward expansion of the United States and made McCormick one of the wealthiest men in the nation. The painting hung in the McCormick home in Chicago (fig. 1).
Jean-Jacques Fernier has examined and authenticated this work.
Sarah Faunce has examined and authenticated this work, and will include it in her forthcoming Courbet catalogue raisonné.
fig. 1. Interior of Chicago home of Cyrus Hall McCormick, with the present picture hanging in the upper left.
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