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Route de Nieuport - The road to Nieuport signed and dated lower left A.W. Finch/88 oil on canvas 55 x 66 cm PROVENANCE Acquired circa 1930 by Herman Vandermeiren, with the advice of the collector Dr. Frans Heulens, thence by descent. EXHIBITION Brussels, Muse‚ Moderne, Les XX, February 1890, no. 6 (probably) Paris, Pavillon de la ville de Paris, Soci‚t‚ des Artistes Ind‚pendants, March-April 1890, no. 356 (as: Route vers Nieuport Bains) (probably) NOTES The composition and the colours of the present painting are very close to 'Les Meules' (1889) by Finch, acquired by Octave Maus in 1890 and now in the collection of the Muse‚ des Beaux Arts in Brussels. When Georges Seurat exhibited his painting 'Un Dimanche … la Grande Jatte' at Les XX in 1887 he created a real event among the Brussels' art world. Many critcs refused to acknowledge the divisionist movement, but artists such as Finch and Van Rijsselberghe were very impressed by the techniques employed. In a letter to Paul Signac, dated April 1887, Finch expresses his curiosity:"J'ai ‚t‚ profond‚ment remu‚ par les toiles de M.M. Seurat et Pissarro, qui ‚taient aux XX. Je viens vous prier de m'indiquer un livre qui traite de la d‚composition des couleurs... Pensez vous que ce livre me sera utile? Il y a beaucoup de choses que je vois en nature, mais je ne m'explique pas. Je n'aime pas … tatonner, le point de d‚part me manque, c'est … dire le c“t‚ scientifique." While this painting was executed in the same year as 'L'Hippodrome Wellington, pluie fine', in which Finch has already embodied the technique of colour divisionism, his approach of the subject in 'Route de Nieuport' is much closer to Seurat's principles. Whereas in the first of these paintings the subject is the focus, one can see that in the latter the painter tries to give a structure to the composition through the electric poles and their shadows, the road perspective and the shadow of a house in the right corner of the picture. In a way it is his first attempt to create a timeless painting, a goal he fully realised in 1890 with 'Verger … la LouviŠre' and 'Estacade … Heist'. We kindly thank Danielle Derrey-Capon, currently working on the Catalogue Raisonn‚ on the artist's work, for her help in cataloguing this lot. See colour illustration.