What Do You See? The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Part I

The present Lot will be included in the forthcoming Digital Catalogue Raisonné of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s work, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc. It will also come accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity dated December 15, 2023.An incredibly moving rendering of a porcelain jug, Pot de Faïence, is a wonderful example of spontaneity and color play–a bold, sensual take on still life painting. The work belongs to a vast corpus of still lifes Renoir completed in the lateryears of his life, many of which included flowers (usually roses), fruit and vegetables, but also more quotidian objects such as statuettes, tea cups, and cutlery. This particular pot de faïence was painted at the artist’s home in Cagnes in the late 1910s. Months before the artist’s death in 1919, it was purchased by Renoir’s friend and dealer, Ambroise Vollard–a tribute to how special such a work was for the artist.Although Renoir considered his late still lifes as visual notes and outlets of expression, the genre always held a certain importance in his œuvre. His first submissions to the French Salon in the 1860s were mostly grand still lifes made in the purest Academic tradition. Even after his involvement with the Impressionist movement, dishware, flowers, and fruit remained a current motif in his paintings. Though not always the main subject of the composition, these objects were often found sitting on a background piece of furniture, held by a model, or lying ostensibly on a table. To Renoir, and to many other artists of the time, still life painting represented financial security as such oils were deeply appreciated by his clientèle, especially abroad. As he grew older, it became a deeply personal subject, as it enabled him to experiment with endless technical and colorful combinations and to paint quicker, more freely as arthritis crippled his fingers.Pot de Faïence is characterized by a rich texture, warm palette and informal composition. With the thick, loose brushstrokes used to render the patterns on the body of the jug, and the almost-untouched background which reveals the texture of the canvas, it shares the overall qualities of improvisation and intuitiveness often associated with watercolor. The rich tones –mostly reds and browns–give the work a sense of familiarity and comfort one often associates with the nature of the pot; a common household prop from which one can pour comforting beverages. The subject also is personal for Renoir, who began his career as an apprentice for the Manufacture de Sèvres, painting flowers on porcelain jugs such as this one.By channeling the art of porcelain painting, Renoir returns to his ‘first love’ and hints at a certain elegance, spirit, and way of life that he reveres and looks upon as his life wanes: that of 18th century France. The feathery, energetic brushwork of Pot de Faïence in fact recalls the sensuous brushwork of François Boucher, whom Renoir adored, making the work a true pochade (a quick sketch) which instantly captures the colors and the atmosphere of the scene. Through his lush, creamy touch, Renoir dissolves the contours of the composition into one jubilant, abstract playground, giving the impression that the painting is being completed before our eyes. Albert André seemed to agree when commenting on his master’s peculiar technique: “He attacks his canvas with his brush, generally dipped in red-brown, tracing a few very schematic lines to see the proportions of the elements that will constitute his painting. Then, immediately in pure tones thinned with solvent, as if he were painting a watercolor, he rubs the canvas all over in a rapid movement and you can see appear something imprecise and iridescent, the colors running into one another, something that charms you even before you have begun to get a sense of the image.”