Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1888
In 1890 following a period of a tighter more linear style of painting inspired by the great Neo-classicist Ingres, Renoir returned to a softer freer application of paint. Finding joy and expression in his art once again, ‘Jeune fille lisant’ is an exemplar of Renoir’s lively yet gentle brushwork, and delicate use of colour his work of this time is so celebrated for.
‘Jeune fille lisant’ comes from a series of paintings of figures reading, writing or playing music by Renoir from the 1890s. The theme of young girls reading already appeared in his work from the 1870s but the artist returned to it with a new intensity in this period. These tender domestic scenes often focused upon childhood and are imbued with a sense of nostalgia, heightened by the hazy atmosphere created by the artist’s feathery brushwork. Here, the girl is deep in her studies, with Renoir applying a muted palette aside from the striking red bow in her hair.
This painting was first purchased by Georges Bernheim, the cousin of Gaston and Alexandre Bernheim who ran the iconic Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris. Renoir had a number of solo exhibitions at the gallery with the Bernheim family being great supporters of his work.
Renoir’s domestic scenes of the 1890s are highly regarded. ‘Jeune fille lisant’ was in fact previously on loan to Kunsthaus Zurich where it was displayed for a number of years. Many museums have paintings from these series in their permanent collections, such as ‘Two Girls Reading’, c. 1890-91, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; ‘Girl Reading’, 1890, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; ‘Reading’, c. 1891, Barnes Collection.
Provenance
Georges Bernheim, Paris
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired from the above on 14 November 1908)
Charles Maniez, Valenciennes (acquired from the above on 11 December 1909)
Galerie Georges Petit, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 2 December 1918, lot 27
Etienne Bignou, Paris
Alex Reid & Lefevre, London
Max Kaganovitch, Paris (from 1938 and thence by descent)
(on loan) Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich
Private Collection, Canada (by descent from the above c. 1978)
Private Collection, Switzerland
Exhibitions
Paris, Galerie Max Kaganovitch, Oeuvres choisies (des 19ème et 20ème siècles), May – June 1938, no. 34
Paris, Galerie Max Kaganovitch, Oeuvres choisies du XIXe siècle, 22 May – 5 July 1950, no. 30 (titled Liseuse)
Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Renoir, 1 November - 4 December 1983, no. 25, (titled Liseuse) (travelled to: Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, 7 December – 25 December 1983; Okayama, Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, 14 January – 12 February 1984; Osaka, Nabio Museum, 17 February – 18 March 1984)
Literature
G. Lecomte, 'L'oeuvre de Renoir', L'art et les artistes: Revue mensuelle d'art ancien et moderne, no. IV, 1920, p. 148, illus. (titled Etude de jeune fille)
A. Vollard, Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Paintings, pastels and drawings, San Francisco, 1989, no. 82, p. 21, illus. (titled Tete de fillette)
G. P. Dauberville and M. Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, Vol. II, Paris, 2009, no. 1185, p. 312, illus.
This work is accompanied by a letter of attestation from the Wildenstein Plattner Institute signed by Elizabeth Gorayeb, under number 23.02.09 / 21157 and dated 14 February 2023