Name: PHILIP ALEXIUS DE LÁSZLÓ, M.V.O., P.R.B.A. (BUDAPEST 1869-1937 LONDRES)
Brand: Portrait de la cantatrice Germaine Gien (1895-1989), de trois-quarts
Price: 48000.00 EUR
Availability: SoldOut

PHILIP ALEXIUS DE LÁSZLÓ, M.V.O., P.R.B.A. (BUDAPEST 1869-1937 LONDRES)
Portrait de la cantatrice Germaine Gien (1895-1989), de trois-quarts
signé, localisé, daté et dédicacé 'de László / Paris 1921 Xbre / a mon ami Belugou' (en bas, à droite)
huile sur toile, sur sa toile d'origine
73,3 x 54,5 cm (28⁷⁄₈ x 21⁷⁄₁₆ in.)

Collection Germaine Gien (1895-1989) et Léon Bélugou (1865-1934).
Acquis directement auprès des précédents par les actuels propriétaires, région du nord de la France.

Programme du récital de Germaine Gien chez les László à Londres, "At Home". Mrs. de Laszlo. Tuesday, December 19th, 1922, reproduit en noir et blanc sur la couverture.

PHILIP ALEXIUS DE LÁSZLÓ, M.V.O., P.R.B.A. (1869-1937), PORTRAIT OF THE SINGER GERMAINE GIEN (1895-1989), THREE QUARTER VIEW, OIL ON CANVAS, UNLINED, SIGNED, LOCATED, DATED AND DEDICATED

With her hair slicked back and her lips picked out in carmine lipstick, the general appearance of this elegant woman typifies the clear-cut modernity of inter-war women. Painter of European high society, Philip de László (1869-1937), used an equally free style to suggest her features and her loose shirt, cut off neatly at the neckline in the androgynous (and then highly provocative) fashion known as the ‘garçonne’ style in the Roaring Twenties.

Germaine Gien (1895-1989) married Léon Bélugou (1865-1934) in 1919. It was to her husband, that the painter dedicated the portrait of his wife two years after their marriage. Gien was 26 at the time. She had met Bélugou through her singing teacher, Lucienne Bréval (1865-1935), a world-famous singer in her day and a member of the Parisian and cosmopolitan high society so well described by Marcel Proust (1871-1922). Although she won first prize at the Conservatoire in 1917, Gien came from a modest background needed a protector. Bélugou was a well off man. He was a journalist, author and mining company director, and during the First World War he was involved in the charity work of the Countess of Greffuhle (1860-1952). Very well-connected, he was an intimate of Edith Wharton (1862-1937) and one of her famous ‘B's’, as she described her close friends who shared the same initial (Berenson, Blanche, Berry, etc.). Wharton mentioned the couple in one of her letters, pointing out that her friend Bélugou had a ‘tardy grande passion which doesn't agree with him - the object being 25 years’ (H. Lee, Edith Wharton, London, 2013, p. 296). Gien would also refer to this notable age difference many years later, as historian Claudine Lesage recalls, to her: ‘age made no difference’ (C. Lesage, Edith Wharton in France, Bristol, 2018).

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Français

Le tableau est sur sa toile d'origine. Elle est correctement maintenue sous tension sur un châssis à clés. Vu du revers, trois éléments de toile sont visibles : la première en bas à droite, la deuxième au milieu à gauche et la troisième, la plus petite, en haut à droite. Elles correspondent à de petites déchirures de la toile. L'ensemble reste stable.
La peinture présente exceptionnellement bien à la lumière naturelle, les empâtements du visage et du costume du modèle étant bien préservées.
L'examen sous lumière UV révèle les déchirures restaurées de la toile mentionnées ci-dessus, la plus importante étant celle en bas à gauche (vue du côté peint) qui mesure environ 7 cm. La seconde, visible dans les cheveux du modèle, mesure environ 4 cm. La plus petite, en haut à gauche, mesure environ 1 cm.
Dans un cadre en bois doré (environ 88 x 68,5 x 5 cm).

English

The canvas is unlined, it is held under adequate tension on a keyed stretcher. Viewed from the reverse three canvas patches can be seen: the first at lower right, the second at middle left and the third, most minor, at upper right. These correspond to minor tears in the canvas. The whole remains stable.
The painting presents exceptionally well in natural light with the impasted areas in the sitter's face and costume well preserved.
Examination under UV light reveals the aforementioned repaired tears to the canvas, the most significant of these being lower left as viewed on the painted side, which measures approx. 7 cm. The second, which is visible in the sitter's hair, measures approx. 4 cm. The most minor of these at the upper left measures approx. 1 cm.
In a giltwood frame (approx. 88 x 68,5 x 5 cm).

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