Exhibitions in Parisian galleries (2) and acquisitions for Rouen

26/11/24 - Paris, Art market and Rouen, Acquisitions - Before heading for Place Vendôme, we continue our wanderings around the Faubourg Saint-Honoré (see news item), visiting the Oscar Graf gallery, where he and Mathieu Néouze are exhibiting a fine group of works from the turn of the 1900s, including a sculpture and a very large gouache watercolour, among many other remarkable objects.

1. Henry Cros (1840-1907)
The Promenade, 1874
Polychrome wax modelled on wood, gilded,
glass cabochons - 100 x 56 x 10 cm
Galerie Oscar Graf et Galerie Mathieu Néouze
Photo: Galerie Oscar Graf

See the image in its page

The sculpture is a waxwork by Henry Cros (ill. 1), and is quite exceptional in size, measuring one metre in height. Exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in 1874, and recently displayed at the Musée des Arts décoratifs (see article), it shows two young women in Renaissance costumes. Using a technique that allows polychromy in the mass, the work is part of the Neo-Renaissance movement that was developing in France at the time.

2. Henri Bellery-Desfontaines (1867-1909)
Sketch of Sigurd’s Score, 1894
Watercolour, gouache and pencil - 53.5 x 47.5 cm
Galerie Oscar Graf and Galerie Mathieu Néouze
Photo: Galerie Oscar Graf and Galerie Mathieu Néouze

See the image in its page

The large watercolour (ill. 2) is by Henry Bellery-Desfontaines, a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens and Luc-Olivier Merson. It was inspired by the composer Ernest Reyer, author of the opera Sigurd, which premiered in 1884 and drew on the same sources as Wagner (Sigurd is the other name for Siegfried). Impressed by this opera, first performed in Paris in 1885, the artist presented this work, which is directly inspired by it, at the Salon des Artistes français in 1896.

On Place Vendôme, the Marty de Cambiaire gallery is also often devoted to ancient art, but this time it is offering an exhibition devoted exclusively to the 19th century.
It is a pity that this…