Lot 99: Guy Rose (1867-1925) Giverny Hillside 9 3/4 x 12 1/2in overall: 17 x 21in

Guy Rose (1867-1925)
Giverny Hillside unsignedoil on canvas9 3/4 x 12 1/2inoverall: 17 x 21in
Provenance: Christie's, California, Western and American Paintings, October 24, 2000, lot 57.Private collection, Beverly Hills, California.Giverny Hillside is an important early work that incorporates influences of Impressionism and a Tonalist palette reminiscent of James Abbott McNeill Whistler into a gentle plein air scene. C.F. Sloane of the Los Angeles Herald described a similar work by the artist of the same period: 'One of these is a hillside lying in full sunlight, which intensifies the warm green of the early grass, and the other is a view of the church mentioned above. This is in a lower tone of color than the first, but is treated in the same broad manner and has the same clear feeling of atmosphere.' (C.F. Sloane, Mr. Rose's Paintings, Los Angeles Herald, October 13, 1891) As in the description, Giverny Hillside is of a similar 'lower tone of color' while it also maintains the hallmarks of the impressionistic brushstroke and plein air technique. Light breaks through the gray cloud-filled sky washing the rolling landscape in cool, atmospheric chiaroscuro. The direction that the artist was to follow is clearly demonstrated for us in Giverny Hillside.