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Artist or Maker: Henri Edmond Cross (1856-1910)

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Description: La mer clapotante
signed 'Henri Edmond Cross' (lower left)
oil on canvas
23 1/4 x 32 in. (59 x 81.2 cm.)
Painted circa 1903

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Provenance: Felix Fénéon, Paris; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 4 December 1941, lot 41.
Anonymous sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 30 May 1949, lot 20.
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 30 March 1987, lot 15.
Galerie Daniel Malingue, Paris.
Acquired by the present owner in May 1989.

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Exhibited: Paris, Galerie Dru, H.E. Cross, 1927, no. 36.
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, H.E. Cross, 1937, no. 19.
Paris, Petit-Palais, Les Maîtres de l'Art indépendant, 1937, no. 145.
Paris, Galerie Daniel Malingue, Maîtres Impressionnistes et Modernes, November - December 1987, no. 6.
Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse, Cross et le néo-impressionnisme, October 1998 - January 1999 (illustrated in the catalogue).

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Published: F. Spar, Annuaire du Collectionneur, 1948-1949 (illustrated pl. XIV).
I. Compin, H.E. Cross, Paris, 1964, no. 102 (illustrated p. 199).

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Notes: Patrick Offenstadt will include this painting in his forthcoming Cross catalogue raisonné.

Cross and his wife Irma lived in a secluded house nestling amongst vineyards and orchards at the foot of the Massif des Maures just a mile inland from the Mediterranean coast. The closest town was the tiny fishing village of Le Lavandou, a few miles south along the coast from Saint-Tropez where Paul Signac, Cross's collaborator in the Neo-Impressionist idiom, lived. The two men were both drawn naturally to the sea as a motif, relishing the challenges that such a transient subject set them as artists of order and classical repose. La mer clapotante illustrates Cross's rigorous application of Neo-Impressionist technique, with saturated dashes of colour carefully building the subject, as well as his sense of overall design.

During the summer of 1904, Matisse spent several crucial months in Saint-Tropez in the company of Signac, Cross and Félix Fénéon, the first owner of the present work and in whose collection La mer clapotante remained until his death. The exchange of ideas had a profound effect on the direction of Matisse's art, and led directly to the creation of his landmark Fauve canvases during the following year. In fact, the planned layout of the notorious Salle VII in the 1905 Salon d'Automne, the gallery occupied by Matisse and his Fauve comrades, initially included Cross. The latter, however, sensibly wrote to Matisse, 'I would prefer my submission, which belongs with the softer harmonies this year, to be separated from yours, in a place that favours calm where it can hold its own' (quoted in H. Spurling, The Unknown Matisse, London, 1998, p. 331).

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Patrick Offenstadt will include this painting in his forthcoming Cross catalogue raisonné.

PLease also not the following additional reference:
LITERATURE:
D. Clévenot, 'Henri-Edmond Cross, à petites touches', L'oeil, no. 500, October 1998, pp. 78-85.