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• Auction House:
  Bonhams Australia
• Sale Name:
  Important Australian Art
• Sale Date:
  04 Apr 2023 ~ 6pm (AEST)
• Lot #:
  46
• Lot Description:
  John Peter Russell
  (1858-1930)
  Rocks, Belle Île, 1907
  oil on board
  26.5 x 34.0cm (10 7/16 x 13 3/8in).
  signed and dated lower left: 'J. P. RUSSELL. 07'
• Provenance:
  David Hughes, London 1978; Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane; Private collection, Queensland; Deutscher-Menzies, Sydney, 18 March 2008, lot 23; Private collection, Melbourne; Deutscher~Menzies, Sydney, 23 September 2009, lot 47; Private collection, Queensland
• Exhibited:
  Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane (label attached verso)
• Notes:
  'It can be fairly claimed that John Peter Russell was Australia's first impressionist artist, although it is a term he would have most firmly rejected. He was fiercely individual as an artist and entirely self-sufficient. His world was for him bounded by his painting, his family and his chosen friends in the art colony of Paris'1, some of the most recognised names in the history of art – amongst them Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Auguste Rodin. John Peter Russell was born in Sydney in 1858 to a wealthy engineering family. Strong in stature he was an avid rower, boxer and sailor. Following the death of his father in 1879 the family business was sold, leaving Russell a considerable inheritance that enabled him to comfortably follow his artistic passion, whilst studying at the Slade School of Fine Art, London and the atelier of Fernand Cormon in Paris. Visiting Belle Ile on a painting break in 1888, John Peter Russell approached Claude Monet whilst he was working. 'Like Monet, Russell was seeking refreshment: in his case it was more physical and emotional than artistic... Russell made his home on the island from 1888 until the death of his wife, Marianna, in 1908. During this time he developed an intimate relationship with the island and its natural features, sailing his yacht around the challenging western coastline and physically experiencing the power of the sea. His Belle Ile paintings chart an intense and complex relationship with a restricted number of motifs – the sea, the rocks, the coastline.. Although his motifs were limited, Russell's Belle-Ile works show him developing experimental brush techniques in his rendering of form and pursuing colour purity in his pigments'.2 The present work displaying an artist at ease with his surroundings, a landscape that challenged some of the most respected artists of the time. Rarely exhibiting and without the need to fund his life through art, John Peter Russell was recognised by his contemporaries as an artist of the highest significance. It's a testament to his standing within art history, that Auguste Rodin once wrote in one of his last letters to Russell: 'Your works will live, I am certain. One day you will be placed on the same level with our friends Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh'. Alex Clark 1. Donald Finley, 'John Peter Russell and his friends', Art & Australia, June 1965, p. 39; 2. Ann Galbally, Belle Île: Monet, Russell & Matisse in Brittany, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2001, p. 15
• Estimate:
  A$120,000 - 150,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.