PARIS.- During the prestigious Impressionist and Modern art auction organised on 4th June 2018 by Artcurial, five intimate pieces signed by Paul Gauguin, the precursor of modern art, will be held for auction. They are appearing for the very first time on the art market, all of them part of Favre-Tessier collection. The set will be presented beside the painting Raccommodeuses de filets dans les dunes (1882), by another master of Impressionism, Vincent Van Gogh.

Created between 1876 and 1887, these five works have remained in the ownership of the same family since then, the Favre family and its descendants.

A childhood friend, Claude Favre was Paul Gauguin’s confidant. The oils and sketches in the auction bear witness to this intimate and essential friendship in the artist’s life, the members of the Favre family playing the role of portrait models as well as offering advice and support. At the heart of this collection, a portrait of Claude Antoine Charles Favre, dating from 1877 (estimate: €180,000 – 250,000 / $225,000 - 310,000). The realism of the portrait is characteristic of Gauguin’s early days. It is no coincidence that the painter has chosen his friend, Claude Antoine Charles Favre, to pose for this experimental portrait. Indeed, the two men entertained a deep friendship which offered Gauguin a fertile ground for psychological reflection while creating these singular portraits

These paintings, from the collection of the Favre family descendants will be revealed first in Paris then will travel to Brussels from the 21st to 26th April, followed by New York from 5th to 11th May 2018. They will then return to the French capital for the pre-auction exhibition.

Inspired by friendship
Friendship is an essential subject in all of Paul Gauguin’s work. His Portrait de Claude Antoine Charles Favre, carrying an estimate of €180,000 – 250,000 / $225,000 – 310,000, is a study on his introverted friend. The piece easily captures the psychological complexity of the subject: a tight crop of the face and bust underligns the bright expression of the eyes that the artist clearly highlights. The goal here is to describe a truth held in the core of the being, with no frills or artifice. This childhood friendship represents one of the particularities of being one of the only relations Gauguin holds outside of of the domains art or finance. Furthermore, it hails from a modest background, explaining the purety of the treatement of the portrait, as if Gauguin was touching on an essentiel subject.

The bond maintained by the artist with Claude Antoine deeply imprints his life. In the 1880’s, a pennyless Gauguin has just walked out of his job in finance, asks his friend if he can store all his works in his small Parisian apartment. Once again, Claude Antoine saves Paul from destitution, helping him obtain a job with Dillies, a waterproof canvas merchant. The artist often refers to this in his correspondance: "The porpoise (Claude Antoine) who is also out of pocket, still finds a way to help me out at the moment". Their friendship seems to deteriorate following Claude Antoine’s marriage to Gabrielle Tessier in 1888. This is the same person who will sign his internment documents to the asylum in 1892, eight years prior to his death.

Paul Gauguin also paints the portrait of his friend’s father, Philibert Favre (estimate €60,000 – 80,000 / $72,000 – 96,000). At the time, the Favre father and son live under the same roof, a living situation at times complicated, as demonstrated by Gauguin’s letters: "Fortunately, the Porpoise, my neighbour, is coming to dinner this evening with his girlfriend: this is a convenient place to rest from his troubles on the home front where he often argues with his father". Gauguin’s proves to be deeply linked to that of the father and son and in the 1880’s and Claude Antoine will not hesitate to ask his father to pose for the painter, then in search of a model, as he communicated in a letter to his wife: "It is winter and I cannot paint without a model"

Impressionism serving realism
For many years, the Portrait de Philibert Favre hid Le port de Javel (1876), as both pieces were nailed to the same frame. Just as Monet, who painted Gare Saint Lazare at the same moment, Pissarro who a few years paints the industrial Ports of Rouen, Dieppe and Le Havre, or Maximilien Luce at Charleroi, Gauguin grasps at the structural changes of the city in this work and far from embellishing, he aims to describe them with a sometimes-disconcerting realism.

Here, the threatening sky melts into the dark shades of the water, occupying almost all the space of the canvas. The meagre strip of land storming into the grey-blue extent takes up practically all the space on the canvas. This manner of painting the landscape, typical of young Gauguin, is remarkably inspired by Paul Cezanne’s aesthetics. The landscape is the display case of sensitivity. Everything happens as if the painting contained the infinite and sought to define it. Le port de Javel, painted by Gauguin in 1876 bears faithful witness to industrial and urban Paris of the time. The painting is valued at €180,000 – 250,000 /$ 225,000 – 310,000.

An artistic path linked to intimacy
While working for canvas retailer Dillies, Paul Gauguin doodles on personal letter head paper. Intended for Claude Antoine Favre, it represented his family and his location: his home, his maid, the surroundings… The sketch represents the building he resided in at the time. He caricaturises the home, representing it as a soup dish upon which the word “molasses” is written. Emerging from the soup, a rare auto portrayal of the artists, surrounded by his children. Pêle-mêle familial (1885) carries and estimate of €20,000-30,000/ $25,000 – 37,000.

The auction on June 4th will also showcase the tambourine painted by Gauguin in 1886, Fleurs et Oiseau, estimate €70,000-100,000 // $86,000 – 123,000. Paintings on tambourines, quite rare in the first part of the 19th century became fashionable in the 1880’s. Comprising elements dear to Gauguin and which he enjoyed painting such as peonies, the article was painted between 1884 and 1886, the year of its dedication. The decor of this tambourine is an extension of the research of decorative “abstract” and strongly suggests Gauguin interest in the subject since the beginning of the 1880’s. Through this tambourine, we understand Gauguin’s desire to move from realism to try to try working on abstraction.