68049: Jules Pascin (Bulgarian/French, 1885-1930) Lucy

Jules Pascin (Bulgarian/French, 1885-1930) Lucy à Fontenay-aux-Roses, 1928-29 Oil on canvas 36-1/4 x 28-3/4 inches (92.1 x 73.0 cm) Signed lower right: Pascin With estate stamp and various inscriptions on the verso, including 'Lucy Krohg / Fontenay 1929' PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ELAINE AND PERRY SNYDERMAN, HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS PROVENANCE: The artist; Estate of the above; Guy Krohg, Oslo. EXHIBITED: Tokyo, Japan, and elsewhere, "Autour de Pascin, Montparnasse et l'École de Paris," 1994-95; The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan, and elsewhere, "Pascin au Japon," July 8, 2014-March 29, 2015. LITERATURE: Y. Hemin, G. Krohg, K. Perls, and A. Rambert, Pascin catalogue raisonné, Volume I, Paris, 1984, p. 310, no. 613, illustrated; E. Snyderman, Pascin and the Demons of Chance, Silver Spring, Maryland, 2003, p. 168, illustrated. This sensitive portrait depicts Lucy Vidil Krohg (1891-1977), the longtime lover and model of Bulgarian-born painter Jules Pascin. Born in Paris, she was from an early age a member of the circle of artists gathered around Montparnasse and Montmartre, where Pascin lived and worked following his immigration to France in 1906, and where she also modeled for Henri Matisse and Albert Marquet. In 1909 Lucy met Pascin, and despite their close relationship that bordered on obsession, Pascin left Paris in 1914 with fellow artist Hermine David, and married her in 1918. The abandoned Lucy Vidil eventually married Norwegian painter Per Krohg in 1915, and had a son, Guy, with him in 1917. Pascin returned to Paris in the autumn of 1920, and in the spring of 1921 reunited with Lucy. Their relationship was to be a volatile, on again-off again affair that would haunt both of them for the rest of their lives, exacerbated by Pascin’s excessive drinking and battle with bouts of debilitating depression. Pascin did not have the financial difficulties that many of his fellow Parisian avant-gardistes experienced during his time in Paris. He was born to a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family, so that when his father died, he collected a sizable inheritance. He also found lucrative work as an illustrator for the satirical German publication Simplicissimus, and had successful shows in the U.S. and in Europe, enjoying the patronage of notable collectors including John Quinn and Alfred C. Barnes. As the result of his financial advantages, Pascin was able to afford a country home in Fontenay-aux-Roses, a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris on the banks of the Marne. It was there that Pascin painted the present work in 1929, eight years following his reunion with Lucy. He spent lavishly on parties there and frequently invited his friends for picnics on the bank of the river. While Pascin and Lucy Krohg’s respective marriages ended in separation, neither was formally divorced during Pascin’s lifetime. After the opening of Pascin’s will, following his suicide in 1930, it was revealed that Pascin shared his estate between his wife Hermine David and Lucy. This remarkable arrangement, together with her fascination with the art of Pascin, led collector Elaine P. Snyderman to write a fictionalized novel detailing the "strange hold" Pascin had on Hermine David and Lucy Krohg. In her Pascin and the Demons of Chance, Snyderman wrote a description of the remarks made by Pascin’s Bulgarian lawyer, just after reading the contents of the artist’s will: "Twirling his mustache with as much dignity as he could muster, he spoke: ‘Everyone in this room knows the circumstances of the artist Jules Pascin’s last years. He was in love with Madame Krohg who was not free to marry him. She was his confidante, his support, his friend, his companion.’" HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved