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Dimensions: 60 by 81cm., 23 5/8 by 31 7/8 in.
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Provenance: (Probably) Ambroise Vollard, Paris (acquired from the artist in May 1901)
(Probably) Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 8th November 1940, no. 41
Sale: Palais Galliera, Paris, 8th December 1961, no. 33
Private Collection, Paris (purchased at the above sale)
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Exhibited:
(Probably) Société des Artistes indépendants, Paris, 1901, no. 218
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Literature: Isabelle Compin, H. E. Cross, Paris, 1964, no. 82, illustrated p. 175
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Notes: To be included in the forthcoming Henri Edmond Cross Catalogue raisonné being prepared by Patrick Offenstadt.
Henri-Edmond Cross was a co-founder of the Societé des Artistes Indépendants in 1884, and through this establishment became friends with many of the Neo-Impressionists. This relationship with the Neo-Impressionists accounts for the visible change in style in Cross?s work as he adopted their techniques and methods, concentrating specifically on landscapes and seascapes.
While remaining very close to Seurat and Signac, Cross abandoned their scientific approach to painting, and adapted the pointillist style to his own bolder and more rhythmic method. Cross replaced their rigid use of dots based on color theories with a more liberated and intuitive style, creating a body of work that celebrates light, often built-up of short, uniform brushstrokes of pastel hues such as those visible in Famille de cygnes.
