Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10

Eugène Lawrence Vail
"Soir de Novembre, Dordrecht, " Eugene Vail, Dutch Landscape with Boats, Cloudy

About the Item

Eugène Laurent Vail (1857 - 1934) Soir de Novembre, Dordrecht Oil on canvas 19 1/4 x 25 3/4 inches Signed lower left; titled in two places on the stretcher with various other inscriptions, stamped "MADAME G:VAIL A" and inscribed "177" in ink and "#43" in pencil on a partial label from Garde-Meuble Maple affixed to the stretcher Eugene Vail (Saint-Servan, France September 29, 1857 - Paris, December 28, 1934), the son of a French mother and an American father, Lawrence Eugene Vail, studied at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey (where Alfred Stieglitz was born in 1864) and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1877. Then he became a student of William Merritt Chase and J. Carroll Beckwith at the Art Students League before returning to France. He entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1882 where he was instructed by Alexandre Cabanel, Raphaël Collin, and Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929), known as an extreme naturalist. When Bastien-Lepage died in 1884, Dagnan-Bouveret became the leader of the Naturalist School. He definitely made an indelible impression on Vail. According to Louise Cann, Vail soon became an independent painter working at Pont-Aven and Concarneau. It is difficult to determine when he separated from his teachers since he is listed as a student whenever he exhibited at the Paris Salon — that is, until 1899 when he dropped the mention of élève. A picture of a peasant girl, Seulette was his Salon debut painting in 1883, the same year that he sent two scenes of Brittany to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' exhibition, which documents his stay in that region. The next year he exhibited in the Salon: Fishing Port, Concarneau, which went to the Luxembourg Museum (it is now in the Musée Municipal of Brest). It has the Naturalist brown and gray palette and tonalist atmosphere but already shows that Vail had direct experience with scenes of life in coastal villages: "So convincing was his familiarity with the French coast that the critic Thiébault-Sisson claimed him as a Frenchman and declared that no American marine painter could touch his skill." (Maureen C. O'Brien, in Blaugrund, 1989, p. 218). In 1885, Vail exhibited Inner Port at Dieppe and in the following year On the Thames (Private collection), which later won him the Grand Diploma of Honor from an international jury in Berlin in 1891. Widow, the title of Vail's entry in the Salon of 1887 (unlocated), is a striking image of a woman standing on a beach, looking out to the expanse of the ocean where her husband obviously met his end. The innocent child who looks at us may have the same fate in store for him. Then in 1888, Vail completed his masterpiece, Ready, About! a "wall-size" 94 x 125½ inch canvas. The painting won a first-class gold medal in the Salon of 1888, then at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889, Vail won another gold medal. The first precedent that comes to mind is Théodore Géricault's colossal Raft of the Medusa of 1819 (Louvre), the celebrated romantic image of castaways about to be rescued after being lost at sea. But while Géricault presents a massive, sculpturesque group of figures struggling on a raft just beyond our designated viewing space, Vail pulls the viewer into the picture, or more exactly, extends the diagonally rocking boat into the spectator's area, vividly anticipating the effects of cinematography. There is no more effective way to engage the spectator's attention and sympathies, and the illusionism is especially effective in this life-size picture. Vail's vigorous brushwork — a uniform use of rectangular strokes — adds to the motion-filled, dynamic actuality of this image, and the overall green-gray tonalities evoke the constantly menacing, cold and wet travails in the life of the fishermen in the Atlantic's rough waters. Theodore Child (1889, p. 518) wrote about this painting: "very beautiful in color, and amongst the very strongest and best pictures of this kind in the Exhibition." Dordrecht (unlocated) was Vail's painting exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1892, and in the following year he showed Fisherman — The North Sea at the Paris Salon, the same year in which he re-exhibited Dordrecht and On the Thames at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Vail won the coveted Légion d'Honneur in 1894. Some of his paintings found their way to European museums, for example, Soir de novembre (Odessa Museum) and Soir de Bretagne (Museo d'Arte Moderna, Venice). The latter was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris. Also there was Voix de la mer (Voices of the Sea), which we identify as the painting that appears in an interior view of the American section, just to the right of a doorway (fig. 20 in Fischer, 1999), a simple marine painting. Some time after 1900, Vail turned to both impressionism and post-impressionism but no one seems to have charted this course. His Autumn near Beauvais, illustrated in International Studio (1902, p. 211), The Flags, St. Mark's Venice (1903; National Gallery of Art), and Grand Canal, Venice, ca. 1904 (Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design) demonstrate an impressionist technique with broken color. Mandel (1977, p. 202) wrote on the latter: "applied in short strokes juxtaposing brilliant hues of orange, blue, white, black and red, with a strong interplay between the warm pink tones of the walls and the green shadows of the black boats which are silhouetted against them." Cann (1937) believed that in Venice, Vail "found his true self." The Flags forecasts the Armistice Day pictures by Hassam and others, painted fifteen years later. Vail became involved in the Society of American Artists in Paris and the Société Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture, whose membership included Frank Brangwyn, Charles Cottet (1863-1924), the famous Naturalist sculptor Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), Frits Thaulow (1847-1906), the painter of northern snowscapes, Walter Gay, and the post-impressionists Henri Martin (1860-1943) and Henri Le Sidanier (1862-1939). The group was represented by the Galerie Georges Petit. Naturally, such an association encouraged the seeking out of more modernist directions. In his Swiss mountain landscapes, Vail became more dynamic than ever, employing almost Fauvist brushwork. It seems unfortunate how a few American expatriate artists — Sargent and Whistler, for instance — have eclipsed great talents such as Eugene Vail. But when Vail passed away, the naturalist movement he was associated with was as dead as a doornail. Max Ernst published his surrealistic collage-novel, Une semaine de bonté and the exhibition called "Machine Art" opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where critic Alfred Barr attempted to raise household appliances to the level of Neoplatonic beauty.
More From This SellerView All
  • "Elegant Lady in Winter, Trinity Church, New York" Herman Hyneman, Gilded Age
    By Herman Hyneman
    Located in New York, NY
    Herman N. Hyneman (1849 - 1907) Elegant Lady in Winter, Trinity Church, New York City Oil on canvas 22 x 15 inches Signed lower right Provenance: Freemans, 2005, Lot 76 Herman N. Hyneman was a noted American portrait and figure painter with ties to both Philadelphia and New York. He was born July 27,1849 to Leon and Adeline Hyneman in Philadelphia. ("Who Was Who in American Art" lists his birth date as either 1849 or 1859, but we have confirmed that the birth date is 1849). Virtually nothing is known about his early years, but given the fact that the family resided in a wealthy section of Philadelphia and the fact that he traveled to Paris to study in the studio of Leon Bonnat when he was but 20 years old, it is presumed that the family was financially comfortable if not well to do. Hyneman exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879 and 1881, which was quite an accomplishment given his tender age. He returned to the United States in 1882 and after a year in Philadelphia, he established a studio at 58 West 57th Street, New York, NY, where he painted portraits to support himself and scenes of beautiful fair-skinned women walking in the snow to exhibit at major exhibitions throughout the United States. Hyneman exhibited at the the Brooklyn Art Association in 1882, 1883 and 1884 and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1883 and 1888. Beginning in 1882 and continuing up until 1905, he exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design. Despite the fact that he exhibited fourteen paintings at the National Academy over a span of three different decades, he was never elected as a member. In the 1880's his paintings sold for between $100 and $1500, which were substantial sums for that period. Hyneman also exhibited at the Salmagundi Club and the Philadelphia Art Club and was a member of each organization. He won a medal at the American Art Society in 1904 and also exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute. A handwritten label on one of his paintings indicates that he also exhibited in Budapest, Hungary. In 1892, Hyneman married the noted artist Juliet Jolley (aka Jolly), who had previously modeled for him. Thereafter, they shared a studio and on at least one occasion exhibited together. The February 5, 1896 edition of the "New York Times" reported on a "pleasant studio reception" at 58 West 57th Street where the paintings of both Herman and Juliet were shown to members of New York Society including Mr. And Mrs. Edwin Blashfield. At least one of Hyneman's Painting " A Sensation on Wall Street" which depicted a lovely young woman in fur coat with Muff in front of the Stock Exchange, was made into a post card and reproductions of his paintings are known to exist, although not plentiful. At least one etching is known, "Desdemona," which was reproduced in a book by Frederic Stokes. Herman Hyneman...
    Category

    Late 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "The Green Parasol, " Henry Hannig, American Impressionist, Woman in Beach Scene
    By Henry Hannig
    Located in New York, NY
    Henry Charles Hannig (1883 - 1948) The Green Parasol Oil on canvas mounted on board 6 x 7 3/4 inches Provenance: R.H. Love Galleries, Chicago, Illinois Private Collection, Lake Orion, Michigan Hannig, born in Hirschberg, Germany on 27 February 1883, came to America with his parents at the age of seven. He attended school in the southwest suburbs before the family settled in Chicago. Young Henry enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where Lawton Parker became his mentor. He made ends meet by working in industrial design and illustration. By 1908 he was a pupil in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where students followed the traditional European drawing curriculum, beginning with the copying of master engravings and drawing after plaster casts, then concentrating on the nude figure. Students worked toward the goal of winning various academic prizes. One of Hannig's fellow students was Louis Ritman...
    Category

    1910s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil, Board

  • "Washington Square Park" Marion Eldridge, Female Artist, New York Cityscape
    Located in New York, NY
    Marion Eldridge Washington Square Park, circa 1925-30 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 18 x 22 inches
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Wellfleet, Cape Cod, " Gerrit Beneker, American Impressionism, Provincetown
    By Gerrit Beneker
    Located in New York, NY
    Gerrit Beneker (1882 - 1934) Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, New England, 1926 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches Signed, titled, and dated lower left Provenance: Louis H. Barnett, Fort Worth, Texas In 1905, Gerrit Beneker began his art career as an illustrator. He married Flora Judd, his high school sweetheart from Grand Rapids and they moved to Brooklyn, NY. Gerrit's early passion was to create an art that would inspire and provide honor to the workingman. As such, he had no interest in painting portraits of pretty women, which were so often seen on the magazine covers of the day. Rather he wanted to seek out workingmen on the bridges, tunnels and skyscrapers of NYC, and paint them in their environments. He completed over 150 magazine covers, numerous ads including many for Ivory Soap...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • "View of Boats in Gloucester Harbor, " Emile Gruppe, American Impressionism
    By Emile Albert Gruppe
    Located in New York, NY
    Emile Albert Gruppe (1896 - 1978) View of Boats in Gloucester Harbor, Cape Ann, Massachusetts circa 1925 Oil on canvas 25 x 30 inches Signed lower right Emile Gruppe was an unusually prolific artist. He was at his easel almost every day and created thousands of paintings over a career that lasted 60 years. At his peak, he was completing almost 200 oil paintings a year. Yet he has never failed to find an audience for his depictions of New England in autumn and winter, or his harbor scenes of Rockport and Gloucester in Massachusetts. Gruppe was born in 1896 in Rochester, New York to an artistic family--his father, brother, sister and nephew were all artists. Emile spent his youth in Katwyk an Zee, a fishing village in Holland, where his father, Charles Gruppe, worked as both an artist and an art dealer. Emile lived in the Netherlands until he was 17, when the family returned permanently to the United States to avoid World War I. In New York City, Gruppe attended classes at the National Academy of Design and at the Art Students League, where he studied under Charles Chapman and George Bridgman. He also studied with John Carlson in Woodstock, New York, where he gained an appreciation for outdoor painting. Carlson “turned me into a painter,” he later said. Gruppe helped found the Rockport Art Association in 1921, but he is most closely linked to Gloucester where he lived from about 1940 until his death. He operated the Gloucester School of Painting from the 1940s into the 1970s and helped turn the Rocky Neck area of East Gloucester into a world-famous art colony. The school boasted an impressive faculty but Gruppe’s own exuberant plein-air demonstrations were often the highlight of the week. Gloucester, with its fleet of whimsically painted fishing vessels, crowded wharf buildings and shacks, and picturesque inhabitants, never ceased to fascinate Gruppe. He also helped popularize Rockport’s famous fishing shack known as Motif #1, sometimes called “the most often-painted building in America.” By the 1940s, Gruppe was one of the most prominent of the Cape Ann artists...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Winter Scene: Canal Near New Hope, Pennsylvania" Impressionist Snowy Landscape
    By George Gardner Symons
    Located in New York, NY
    George Gardner Symons Winter Scene: Canal Near New Hope, Pennsylvania Signed lower left Oil on canvas 30 x 38 inches Provenance: Galleries Maurice Sternberg, Chicago, Illinois Private Collection Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, American 19th & 20th Century Paintings, 1976, Lot 121 Christie's New York, American Art, June 5, 1997, Lot 66 The Honorable Serena Perretti, Short Hills, New Jersey (acquired directly from the above) Estate of the above, 2023 A landscape and marine artist, George Symons was one of America's more noted plein-air painters who combined styles of impressionism and realism. His works are cited for their energy and simplicity, and he often did panoramic views. He was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1861, with the name of George Gardner Simon, but he changed his last name to Symons when he returned from study in England because of concern about anti-semitism. Not much is known about his early life. He first studied at the Chicago Art Institute where he became a close, life-long friend of William Wendt. They painted together in California and then in Cornwall, England in 1898. He also studied in Paris, and Munich and London, and joining a colony of artists at St. Ives, adopted the plein-air techniques of Julius Olsson, Adrian Stokes, and Rudolph Hellwag. He worked in Chicago as a commercial artist, and about 1903 returned to California with Wendt and built a studio in Laguna Beach and became active in western art societies including the California Art Club. He returned often, but maintained his primary studio in Brooklyn, New York, and also did a lot of painting in Colerain, Massachusetts. Among the collections where his work can be found is the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Fleischer Museum in Scottsdale, Arizona. Associations he was a member of include the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, the Institute of Arts and Letters, the Lotos, Century, and Salmagundi Clubs. He was also a member of the Royal Society of British Artists and the Union Internationale des Beaux Arts et des Lettres. He painted entirely out-of-doors, frequently working in Arizona, doing desert landscape and the Grand Canyon views, which "were well received", but he is best known for his New England snow scenes, especially of the Berkshire Mountains...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

You May Also Like
  • Bucks County Winter Landscape
    By Paul Bernard King
    Located in Milford, NH
    A wonderful winter village landscape in Bucks County by painted by American artist Paul Bernard King (1867-1947). King was born in Buffalo, New York, and ...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "West Village Coffee Stop" Oil Painting of a Plein Air Street NYC with Figures
    By Cindy Shaoul
    Located in New York, NY
    "With shades of Pierre Bonnard’s Parisian street vistas and Edward Hopper’s New York shopfronts, American impressionist Cindy Shaoul’s oil paintings depict the much-loved locales and...
    Category

    2010s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Board, Canvas, Oil

  • "Spring, Oakview"
    By Antonio Pietro Martino
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Antonio Pietro Martino (1902 - 1988) Signed and dated lower right. Complemented by a period frame. Antonio Martino was ...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Illuminated Greens, " Abstract Landscape Painting
    By Ken Elliott
    Located in Westport, CT
    This abstracted, impressionistic landscape painting by Ken Elliott is made with oil paint on canvas. It captures a hill beneath a saturated pink sky, with varying shades of green and...
    Category

    2010s American Impressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • "Saint Michael's Mount", Cornwall England Island Landscape Monastery Castle
    By David J. Saccheri
    Located in Soquel, CA
    Serene depiction of Mont-Saint-Michel (St. Michael's Mount) by David Saccheri (American, b. 1959). The stunning beauty of this iconic and historical isl...
    Category

    Late 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Monterey Seascape #12 - "The Landing"
    By Kathleen Murray
    Located in Soquel, CA
    Vibrant miniature landscape by Kathleen Murray (American, (American, b. 1958). Signed "MURRAY" in the lower left corner, but it is very difficult to read due to the color. "#12 The Landing...
    Category

    2010s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil, Cardboard

Recently Viewed

View All