Michel Ciry born in La Baule, France on August 31, 1919 and died at Varengeville-sur-Mer, Normandy France on December 26, 2018. Ciry was singular figure in modern French culture. He was the composer of six symphonies for orchestra, mixed choir, and soloist. He published 36 volumes of memoirs. He was a master of the modern etching, who designed postage stamps and illustrated literary classics by authors ranging from Emily Bronte, Edgar Allen Poe to Franz Kafka. And if all these accomplishments were not enough, he painted portraits and landscapes of luminous simplicity. The extraordinary range of Ciry’s talent was not the only thing that sets him apart from his Western European contemporaries.
Ciry was a committed Christian whose art was largely devoted to sacred themes. He also chose to remain celibate, living in self-imposed exile from the Paris art scene for over fifty years on the seacoast of Normandy in Varengeville-sur-Mer, where a museum an extension of his house opened in 2012 to display works in his personal collection from a career spanning over seven decades.
A student at the Duperre School of Applied Arts in Paris from 1934 to 1937, Michel Ciry engraved his first copper in 1935 and made his debut at the “Artists of this Time” exhibition at the Petit Palais in 1938. He was appointed member of the Society of French Painters-Engravers in 1941. During the Occupation, he was part of the official milieu of artists close to the Vichy regime. Alongside his personal engraved work, he produced many illustrations for bibliophile editions. From the 1960s, he lived and worked in Normandy at Varengeville-sur-Mer.
Ciry has been described as an “artist of solitude.” who lived to be 99 years old. His figurative studies are testimony to the solitary life he lived. They are like lone actors on a stage empty of all but essential props, similarly, his paintings of ships and landscapes are barren.
His painting titled “L’Epave” 1959 of a ship barren on dry land is an example of his connection to loneliness and an emptiness within himself that he lived with. He created in 1963 an drypoint aquatint etching of the same nautical ship released in an edition of 120.
The record price for this artist at auction is $7,138 USD for “Arlequin à la Canne”, oil on canvas 63 3/4” x 38 1/4” sold at Millon Paris, December 2, 2017 – Lot 294.
Born in Latvia, Valleja (Wally) Strautin was a New York City-based portrait, landscape, mural, textile and geometric-based abstract artist who resided in Greenwich Village. She graduated in 1931 from the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. Strautin was good friends and neighbours with Abstract Expressionist artists Jackson Pollock and his wife Lee Krasner, who were highly influential. Though she produced portraits and murals, Strautin found her voice as a painter in a geometric-based abstraction. In conversation with Krasner, Strautin began experimenting with abstraction early in her career. Despite the fact that Strautin’s abstract canvases, were produced early on in her career, they exhibit a remarkable refinement that intimates an intense study of European modernism, The Harvard University Art Museum has a 1944 Christmas card in their collection (M26157.A-B) sent by Pollock and Krasner to “Mrs. Wally Strautin.”
Strautin exhibited at the Society of Independent Artists, founded in 1916 in New York, from 1929-1944. She was a member of the Union of American Artists and the Society of Independent Artists. In 1948, Strautin exhibited with the Spiral Group at the New School for Social Research in New York City, a short-lived abstract artists group that was active from the late 1940s through the 1950s. She is also credited as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist. In the 1930s, as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and its WPA effort, the federal government hired more than 10,000 artists to create works of art across the country, in a wide variety of forms – murals, theatre, fine arts, music, writing, design, and more.
Eugene Henri Cauchois was born on the 14th of February 1850 at Rouen, in the Seine-Maritime region of Normandy in Northern France. He died on the 11th October 1911 in Paris. Cauchois is probably more famous for his floral Still lifes, although he did, on occasion, paint landscapes and seascapes.
In pursuance of an artistic career, he first began studying under Ferdinand Duboc. Cauchois debuted at the Salon of 1874 with Un Lapin (A Rabbit) beside which was placed a text by Victor Hugo which read, “Behold the unfortunate, recumbent, naked, miserable [animal], all covered with blood, redder than maple, during the flower season.” His placement of this quote next to his picture suggests that Cauchois was a supporter of the Romanticist movement, interesting in that he was working during a period in which Romanticism in painting had passed and new movements such as Impression were gaining momentum. By 1876, Cauchois had partially relocated to Asnières along the Seine, just outside of Paris.
Between 1878 and 1879 Cauchois took up residence in Brussels as well as Paris and exhibited two paintings at the, Fleurs (Flowers) and La Pièce de la Resistance (The Principal Dish). He remained in Brussels until at least 1883 and, at some point between 1883 and 1887, returned to Paris after spending nearly four years in Brussels. It cannot be estimated, however, to what point his time spent in Brussels influenced his work, since the whereabouts of much of his work is unknown.
What does remain of Cauchois’ work at present, and what he is most remembered for, are his flower arrangements, many often painted in a series of decorative panels meant to be seen side by side. Perhaps Cauchois was inspired by the vertical compositions and love of nature of Japanese paintings, since much of this period saw an increase in the appreciation in Japonisme and many artists began experimenting with new compositional formulas. It seems as if Cauchois’ more experimental work was exhibited at the Salons, while his other work, especially that of flower paintings, found a wide audience among collectors both during the late nineteenth century and into the twenty-first century.
Still lifes had been a long traditional subject throughout Europe and France was no exception. Even into the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, modern artists such as Édouard Manet and Vincent Van Gogh began working with still lifes, many of flowers. Cauchois’ soft, colorful and lustrous still lifes reflect a strong influence from the great Impressionist artists of his time. Similar to the Impressionists, his canvases are painted layer upon layer with loose and fluid brush strokes.
Carlo Maratta, also spelled Maratti, born May 15, 1625, Camerano, Papal States, Italy – died December 15, 1713, Rome, Italy, one of the leading painters of the Roman school in the later 17th century and one of the last great masters of Baroque classicism. His final works offer an early example of “arcadian good taste” (named for the Academy of Arcadians, of which he was a member), a style that was to dominate Roman art for the first half of the 18th century.
Maratta went early to Rome, where he studied. His reputation was established with his first public work, the Nativity (1650). A few years later he was noticed by Pope Alexander VII, and thereafter he secured an almost uninterrupted series of important commissions for altarpieces in Italian churches. He also executed a number of decorative ceiling frescoes in Roman palaces, the most important of which was for Pope Clement X in the Palazzo Altieri. Maratta painted with a clear and balanced composition that promotes papal clemency and Christian virtues. His critique of the style of Andrea Sacchi (1599 -1661) places him securely in the classical camp of Roman Baroque painting. Maratta was one of the most distinguished portrait painters in Italy during this period, and his portraits include one of Pope Clement IX.
In 1679 or 1680, a daughter, Faustina, was born to Maratta by his mistress, Francesca Gommi (or Gomma). He legally recognized her as his daughter in 1698 and upon becoming a widower in 1700, Maratta married the girl’s mother. His daughter’s features were incorporated into a number of Maratta’s late paintings. In 1704 Maratta was knighted by Pope Clement XI.
With a general decline in patronage around the beginning of the eighteenth century and largely due to the economic downturn, Maratta turned his hand to painting restoration, including works by Raphael and Carracci. Maratta was only partly a classicist in practice. His work displays without restraint the Baroque quality of magnificence, and he was wholeheartedly engaged in the task of representing with the utmost splendour the dogmas of the Counter-Reformation.
The record price for this artist at auction is $1,216,000 USD for “Tobias and the Angel” – oil on canvas 26½” x 38½” sold at Christie’s New York, January 6, 2001 – Lot 153.
Gustave Émile Maincent was born on March 18, 1848 in Batignolles-Monceau 25, rue Saint-Louis (now rue Nollet in the 17th district of Paris). He is the son of Charles Eugène Maincent, private director of the school and family fund, and of Catherine Élisa Césarine Obry, without profession. He has an older brother, Eugène Maincent (1840-1805). Gustave Maincent trained at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a student in the studio of Isidore Pils, and at the Imperial School of Drawing. In 1865, during the distribution of the prizes of the Imperial School of Drawing in the large hall of the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he received the first prize “Drawing – Living plant”.
Specialized in landscape painting, he is described as “little master of the banks of the Seine” In 1883, he was contacted by Anna Judic, a fashionable actress, who asked him to decorate the walls of the greenhouse in her Parisian Mansion, which she had built by the architect Jacques Drevet. Maincent cast a charming fantasy on the walls where he produced great panoramas of Saint-Germain, Bougival and Chatou that form a succession of fresh landscapes, and give the illusion of the countryside in the heart of Paris”. Problems of inheritance required the resale and liquidation of the hotel, in 1884, which allowed the chroniclers to discover the works of Gustave Maincent and to establish his notoriety. In particular, the journalist Émile Blavet, recounts his visit to the hotel in his article “Intérieur d’Artiste” dated 12th December,1884, as well it appeared in a collection of his chronicles entitled La Vie Parisienne. Having acquired notoriety, the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, Rue Laffitte , organized an exhibition of thirty-eight of his paintings to be auctioned off, by Maitre Tual Auctioneer, at the Drouot hotel. The objective was to establish a rating for it, as explained by Charles Pillet in his chronicle of the Hôtel Drouot on 2nd January, 1885.
He moved in 1894 to settle on the island of Chatou at the Fournaise house, where he painted more and more especially in all weathers on the banks of the Seine. His work became highly appreciated by collectors for its finesse and softness, reminiscent of the chromatic palette of Jean-Baptiste Corot. The sudden end of the painter, of a heart attack at 49, in full artistic maturity, suddenly put an end to a promising career. Long-ill hearted, Gustave Maincent died of a heart attack on 2nd October, 1897 on the train route from Paris-Saint-Lazare line to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Rueil-Malmaison Station. The funeral service was celebrated in the Père-Lachaise Chapel, in the presence of personalities. A speech was delivered by Antoine Guillemet. He is buried in the 52nd division of the Père-Lachaise Cemetery.
The architect and civil engineer Émile Blaise owned more than sixty paintings purchased for a total sum of 18,480 fr. This collection went on sale as part of a major solo exhibition of the painter, with sixty-six works hanging in the room of La Bodinière. The exhibition takes place from 2nd June to 25th June 1896 with a vernissage on 1st June. Jules Chéret graciously produced the invitation card. Musee Fournaise pays homage to this artist who died prematurely. For the first time, 40 paintings were brought together thanks to loans from private collectors and the Musée d’Orsay. Ile Des Impressionnistes Exposition 1st May – 1st November 2015. Gustave Maincent “Le Petit Corot Des Bords De Seine”.
August Schaeffer Titled:The Schaffhausen Waterfalls, Germany (Near the Swiss Border) circa 1862 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 25” x 30” (63.5 x 76.2cm) Signed (lower left)
Julius Rolshoven (28 October 1858 – 7 December 1930) was born and raised in Detroit. At 18 he went to New York City to study at the Cooper Union Art School, then in 1878 he left for Germany to the Düsseldorf Academy, then studying under the Kentucky-born artist Frank Duveneck in his Venice and Florence schools, becoming one of the “Duveneck Boys”. After some years in Paris and London, he married Anna Chickering (1859-1896) of the piano manufacturing family. Sadly Anna died of pneumonia on December 5, 1896 in London, so he returned to Italy and practiced portrait and genre painting, and continued teaching.
Rolshoven decided to settle in Florence in 1902. In 1905, while he was drawing outdoors, he discovered a building that had maintained the old charm of a castle, called Castello del Diavolo (Devil’s Castle) that belonged to the family Talani. The artist was so enthusiastic of the environment that in 1907 he bought the property in a state of disrepair. He lived for years in Florence, Italy, his adopted home, re-converting the 900-year-old home, “Castello del Diavolo” into an estate so splendid that an impressed Italian Government designated it as a national monument. The newly renovated home was the former residence of Lisa Gherardini, the model for Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous work of art, the Mona Lisa.
In late 1920, Rolshoven returned to the USA at the beginning of World War I. In December 1915 he married his second wife Harriette Haynes Blazo (1876-1964) in Los Angeles. By 1916 Rolshoven had settled in the American Southwest, setting up a studio in Santa Fe’s Governor’s Palace. He was also a member of the Taos Society of Artists. But for his accidental absence from a famous historic photograph of the Taos Society of Artists (TSA), of which he was a very early member (Associate Member in 1917 and Full Member in 1918), Rolshoven would be considerably better known today.
American artist Julius Rolshoven in his Paris studio circa 1885-1890
Rolshoven’s artistic ability was acknowledged to be equal to or better than the other members of the Taos Society and he was, in fact, invited to join the TSA before such luminaries as Ernest Hennings, Walter Ufer, Victor Higgins and Kenneth Adams. Rolshoven lived inTaos and painted in New Mexico for a short time only, from 1916 to 1920. During these years he was the senior and most experienced member of the TSA, followed by J. H. Sharp who was one year younger. Rolshoven divided his time between Santa Fe and Florence, Italy, where his home was the former residence of Lisa Gherardini, the model for Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous work of art, the Mona Lisa. In late 1920, Rolshoven left Taos to return to his former home in Italy, where he spent the rest of his life. His work is known for its bold, fluid brushwork, graphic composition and saturated, light-filled colour palette.
Rolshoven was considered particularly accomplished in the medium of pastels, and his striking Taos and Santa Fe pastel pieces are some of his freshest and most beautiful works. Compared with the other members of the Taos Society, almost all of whom painted in New Mexico for decades, Rolshoven’s works are quite scarce, difficult to find and rarely available for sale.
Rokshoven took ill shipboard in the Atlantic on route to New York City and died at St. Lukes Hospital in Manhattan on December 7th, 1930. He was on voyage to see his 92 year old mother for Christmas in Detroit, Michigan. She died the same day.
In September 1957, Harriette B. Rolshoven, widow of the artist, donated to the University of New Mexico, $100,000. She also donated twenty works made by her husband, estimated at the time to be worth between $50,000 and $75,000. Harriette died in Santa Fe, in 1964.
Select Collections: Rolshoven works can be found in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY; The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan; Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit, Michigan; The Brooklyn Art Museum, Brooklyn, New York; The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, (The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC); The Santa Fe Art Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico; The El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas; The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey.
Most recent auction sales of Rolshoven art/paintings; “Field of Poppies” 1887 oil on canvas – 33”x 54” sold at Sotheby’s New York, December 3, 1998 – Lot 2 for $277,500 USD; “Sun Arrow” oil on canvas – 36”x 28” sold at Heritage Auctions Dallas Texas, May 24, 2007 – Lot 24022 for $77,680.00 USD; “Assisi Market Girl” oil on canvas – 56”x 45” sold at Christie’s New York, November 29, 2007 – Lot 53 for $181,000.00 USD; “Indian Dancer” oil on panel – 27”x 15” sold at Santa Fe Art Auction New Mexico December 4, 2016 – Lot 229 for $70,000 USD; and “Taos Warriors” oil on canvas – 34”x 43” sold at Santa Fe Art Auction New Mexico, December 4, 2016 – Lot 231 for $150,000 USD.
Attributed to Nicolas Poussin Titled: The Rest on the Flight into Egypt with Saint John the Baptist, circa 1659 Medium: Oil on canvas, painted in a tondo Size: Tondo 14 3/4” x 13 1/2” (37.5 x 34.3cm) Overall 16” x 14 1/4” (40.6 x 36.2cm)
Luigi G. Baldero Titled: I Moschettieri Che Ascoltano La Notizia, circa 1887 (“Musketeers Hearing The News”) Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 29” x 36 1/4” (73.7 x 92.1cm) Signed (lower right)
Cesare-Agostino Detti, or Cesare-Auguste Detti born November 28 1848, Spoleto, Italy — Died May 19 1914, Paris, France. Cesare was an Italian painter, best known for his historical genre scenes, largely from the 17th and 18th Centuries, inspired by the Troubadour style.
His father, Davide Detti, was an engineer and an amateur painter. As a result, his early interest in art was encouraged.
In 1861, he made the acquaintance of Francesco Coghetti, a painter from Rome who was creating murals at the Teatro Nuovo (now known as the Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti). Coghetti suggested that Detti receive formal training at the Accademia di San Luca, where he was a professor.Detti studied there until 1866 and came under the influence of Marià Fortuny, who introduced him to the work of the Macchiaioli.
Upon graduating, he began to travel extensively, spending several years in Naples and exhibiting there in 1872. Although he had originally decided to settle in Rome, he visited Paris in 1876 and met Adolphe Goupil, one of the leading art dealers of his time. Not only did Goupil agree to exhibit his works, he also arranged to make them into engravings for his bourgeois customers.
He eventually decided to stay in Paris and held his first exhibit at the Salon in 1877. His commitment to Paris was further strengthened when, in 1880, he married Juliette-Emilie Filieuse, with whom he had two daughters and a son. In 1883, the family relocated to the commune of Bourron-Marlotte, just outside of Paris. There, he became associated with a society of independent landscape painters known as the Groupe de Marlotte.
In 1888, he participated in the Italian Exhibition in London. He also held showings at the Exposition Universelle(1889), where he was Vice-President of the “Italian Committee”, and the Exposition Universelle (1900), where he was awarded a silver medal. His later years were filled with travels, including Latin America and a trip to the United States from 1906 to 1910.
At the outbreak of World War I, France required all foreign nationals to return to their home countries. Detti had never taken French citizenship, so he was forced to return to Rome. While there, he received a call that his son was seriously ill and he went back to Paris, where he died shortly after his arrival on May 19, 1914.
Cesare-Auguste Detti’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices up to $306,500.00 USD, for A Musical Interlude, oil on canvas 38½ x 60 in. (97.8 x 152.5cm) sold at Christie’s New York 19th Century European Art sale 30 October 2002 – Lot 83. Most recent “Portrait of a Cavalier” oil on panel 22 1/2 x 16 1/4in (57.1×41.3cm) sold for $17,000.00 USD 8 November 2020 Lot 62.
