Lot 54: Guy Rose (1867-1925) Spring in Normandy 24 x 19 3/4in overall: 29 1/2 x 25 1/2in

Guy Rose
Spring in Normandy
signed 'Guy Rose' (lower right), inscribed 'Earl L. Stendahl' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
24 x 19 3/4in
overall: 29 1/2 x 25 1/2in

Footnotes

• Provenance
  The artist.
  Estate of the artist.
  With Stendahl Art Galleries, Los Angeles, California, by 1933.
  Private collection, Rhode Island.
  Thence by descent to the present owners.
  
  Exhibited
  Los Angeles, California, Stendahl Art Galleries, Guy Rose: Memorial Exhibition, 1926, p. 53, illustrated.
  Santa Barbara, California, Free Public Library, Paintings: Guy Rose/Paul Sample in the Falkner Memorial Art Gallery, 1934, no. 3.
  
  Dr. Will South writes of the present work, "Guy Rose's Spring in Normandy is a variant on his earlier painting of the same title (now in a private collection). It was typical of the Impressionists, most noticeably in the work of Claude Monet, to revisit the same subject at different times of day or in different seasons. Rose adopted this practice, though in this case while we see the same blossoming tree repeated, the backgrounds vary slightly. The present painting is very likely the later version as it is listed and illustrated in the artist's important posthumous show, Guy Rose: Memorial Exhibition. The Stendahl Art Galleries represented the Estate of Guy Rose at that time, working directly with the artist's widow, Ethel Rose. Stendahl still had the painting in his inventory as of March of 1933 when Ethel wrote to him about the possibility of showing Guy Rose's work in Santa Barbara." (unpublished letter, December 2016)
  
  Rose's painting style was deeply influenced by Claude Monet and his paintings of scenes in and around Giverny reflect this. Guy and Ethel Rose bought a stone cottage in Giverny in 1899. They spent many summers there over the next thirteen years. Numerous American artists visited Giverny in these years in hopes of meeting and working with Monet. But Monet worked independently and interacted with only a few of these artists. One exception was Guy Rose, who probably met Monet through the artist Lilla Cabot Perry. Perry was a neighbor and became a close friend to Ethel and Guy Rose. She had moved to Giverny ten years earlier after seeing Monet's work in a Paris gallery. She eventually developed a close relationship with Monet and went on to befriend many American artists as they traveled through Giverny.
  
  Spring in Normandy aptly illustrates the influence of Claude Monet's landscape compositions on Rose. The lively fence posts in the foreground, the central focus on the swirls of cherry blossoms and fluid distant landscape, all reflect the impact of the French master. Few artists have the artistic ability to successfully use white as the primary color in a composition. It took a unique and bold effort to capture this marvelous scene in the north of France on an early Spring morning.