Henry Moret
Title: L'Île DE Groix
Description: Signed Henry Moret (lower right)
Oil on canvas
29 by 36 3/8 in. / 73.6 by 92.3 cm
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: Height 29 in.; Width 36.3 in. / Height 73.6 cm.; Width 92.3 cm.
Misc.: Signed
Provenance: Kunsthaus Bühler, Stuttgart Sale: Baron Ribeyre & Associés, Paris, July 2, 2008, lot 178 Rehs Galleries, New York Private Collection, United States (acquired from the above and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 10, 2016, lot 380) Willow Gallery, London (acquired at the above sale) Acquired from the above by the present owner Exhibition This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné being prepared by JeanYves Rolland. Literature Kunsthaus Bühler, Stuttgart Sale: Baron Ribeyre & Associés, Paris, July 2, 2008, lot 178 Rehs Galleries, New York Private Collection, United States (acquired from the above and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 10, 2016, lot 380) Willow Gallery, London (acquired at the above sale) Acquired from the above by the present owner; Henry Moret was born in 1856 in the town of Cherbourg, a strategically important port located on the Normandy coast. Typical of many families residing in Cherbourg, Moret’s father was a garrison officer and Henry followed his father’s path with a brief period of military service before becoming a professional artist. Moret’s artistic training took place at the École des BeauxArts, under the guidance of academic painters JeanLéon Gérôme and JeanPaul Laurens. This traditional academic pedigree is almost untraceable in Moret’s later work, as he embraced Impressionist and Synthetic techniques in a masterful reconciliation of two competing artistic orthodoxies to develop an artistic vocabulary of his own. As a part of his military service Moret was stationed in Brittany in 1875 and became captivated by the rugged landscape, which also attracted other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters. By 1888, Moret had become well-acquainted with the artists working in Pont-Aven and was heavily influenced by their experimental technique. Around the turn of the century however, Moret began to shift away from Synthetism and adopted a more Impressionistic vocabulary to depict the raw beauty of Brittany. The present work depicts Groix, a remote island off the coast, where the rocky cliffs and expanse of the Atlantic provide a backdrop that is dramatic even by Breton standards. Dominated by ravishing shades of greens, blues and oranges, it is a beautiful example of Moret’s later output, when the development of his singular style had reached full maturity.