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Dimensions: 83 by 39 1/2 in. 210.8 by 100.3 cm.
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Provenance: PROPERTY FROM HSBC'S CORPORATE ART COLLECTION
Sold by the artist directly to Baron Marice de Rothschild
Thence by descent
Sale, Christie's, New York, November 1, 1995, lot 9 (purchased by Edmond Safra for Republic National Bank)
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Literature: P. Mauriès, Boldini, Italy, 1987, pp. 60-61, illustrated
B. Doria, Giovanni Boldini Catalogo generale dagli archivi Boldini, Milan, 2000, no. 439, illustrated
P. Dini, F. Dini, Boldini Catalogo ragionato, Turin 2002, vol.IV, no. 731, p. 396, illustrated
F. Panconi, Boldini L'opera completa, Florence, 2002, p. 396, illustrated
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Notes: Giovanni Boldini's popularity as a society portraitist continued well into the 20th century. Critical to his success in the self-consciously new era was his ability to adapt to the pressing tide of modernism roiling the artistic world. In a portrait such as The Black Sash (datable from costume details to 1905), Boldini fully acknowledged his roots in the elegant portraiture traditions of van Dyck or Gainsborough, a full century or two earlier. But he simultaneously flashed stylistic elements that were distinctly his own: the sitter's twisting pose that suggests an interrupted movement across the room rather than a formal sitting; the bold, discontinuous brushwork that embodies her trailing dress while emphasizing its twirling sweep along the floor. Even the thin, slashing strokes that interrupt the paneling around his model's raised elbow convey an air of haste, an artist working rapidly to capture a fleeting moment.
The sitter for The Black Sash is unknown; at the time of the painting's sale from the Baron de Rothschild's collection, Madame Paulette Howard-Johnston (the daughter of Paul Helleu, a contemporary painter and friend of Boldini's) suggested the red-headed beauty might be a Mrs. Law, an American socialite who also posed for Helleu.
This catalogue entry was written by Alexandra Murphy.
