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FRENCH, 1849 - 1936
CAFÉ SOCIETY
measurements
17 3/4 by 21 1/2 in.
alternate measurements
45 by 54.6 cm
signed Jean Béraud (lower right)
oil on panel
This lot will be included in Patrick Offenstadt and the Wildenstein Institute's forthcoming supplement to the Jean Béraud catalogue raisonné.
PROVENANCE
Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1961
NOTE
A large number of the artist's cafe scenes featuring absinthe drinkers were sold to Bernheim Jeune in 1909, and seem to have been painted around 1890. The artist's preoccupation with the slightly sinister side of café life echoed that of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Stylishly dressed, this pair could be seen to symbolize the decadence of the age, and in the male sitter's case, the mental disquiet caused by the addictive green beverage. He could easily represent Coupeau in Zola's classic tale of lives destroyed by alcoholism, L' Assomoir.
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