GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Chestnut Trees was commissioned by Siegfried Bing, an art dealer and important patron of Nabi and Art Nouveau artists. After seeing Louis Comfort Tiffany's Favrile glass on a trip to the United States, Bing returned to Paris and commissioned a suite of window designs from the leading Nabis to be produced by Tiffany. Eleven artists submitted window designs to Bing, including Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Paul Elie Ranson, Paul Serusier, Henri Gabriel Ibels, and Felix Vallotton. Tiffany produced thirteen windows in total, but only a few are believed to have survived.
For his window, Vuillard chose a motif of chestnut trees in their spring bloom. By showing them as if seen from a high window above the crowns of the trees, Vuillard was able to incorporate the lead structural elements of the window directly into his design. Later in life, Vuillard would often employ a similar bird's-eye view of the streets and squares of Paris.
Adapted from
Heather MacDonald, DMA Label copy (2010.15.McD) for Small Worlds: Edouard Vuillard and the Intimate Art of the Nabis, October 2014.
NOTES
Former titles: The Stained Glass Window, Les Marroniers ou Le Vitrail.
Enter 2014 label copy into text entries.
Found more recent label in Confluence and did not add this label to TMS text entries for archival purposes because it matched the existing text entry for an earlier label. (1/10/2017)
Nicole Myers, DMA Label copy (2010.15.McD), August 2016. [From PC-2016-EURO-Aug16Rotations-EDITED.docx]
Entered 2012 Guide in text entries.
Published references are in abbreviated format and need expansion. I did not have time to go through and expand these sources.
Exhibition history is also in abbreviated format and needs to be rewritten with complete information.
Provenance is a reformatted version of what was pre-existing in TMS. I was unable to sort through the object file to verify or complete the provenance, but it appears that the resources in the object file likely have additional information.
FUN FACTS- source- about letter to Denis (From Acquisition Justification, Collections Object Record File.)
Removed image asset suggestions illustrated on current mobi site:
DMA mobi 102- has attachment with six other examples of windows designed for Siegfried Bing (listed below).
- Ker Xavier Roussel, Garden, 1894. Oil on cardboard, mounted on Japanese paper, mounted on honeycomb panel. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
- Tiffany and Co., New York, Garden, stained-glass window after a design by Ker Xavier Roussel, 1895. Marbled glass. Private collection, Paris.
- Félix Vallotton, Parisians, cartoon for a stained-glass window, 1894. Oil on canvas. Collection Madame Barbier Müller, Geneva.
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Nouveau Cirque: The Dancer and the Five Stiff Shirts, 1892. Transparent and opaque watercolor, oil paint, graphite on dark buff wove paper. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the New Circus, Papa Chrysanthemum, ca. 1894. Stained-glass. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
- Tiffany and Co., New York, Maternity, 1894. Stained glass window after a cartoon by Pierre Bonnard. Private collection.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Produced-Paris
Process/materials
cardboard
canvas
Historical periods
Individuals
Siegfried Bing
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Pierre Bonnard
Paul Sérusier
Félix Vallotton
Paul Elie Ranson
Ker-Xavier Roussel
Henri Gabriel Ibels
Subject terms
Favrile glass
window
chestnut
spring
design drawings
viewpoint
Art Nouveau
elevated viewpoint
leading
facade
street
figures
stylized
flat
geometry
transparent
bird's-eye viewpoint
trees
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1895-1909: Siegfried Bing, Paris
From 1909: Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (stock no. 17454), purchased from the above through Bing sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 26 May 1909
Until 1941: Sale, Hôtel Druout, Paris, 22 Dec 1941, lot 111
Until 1956: Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 June 1956, lot 57
n.d.: Galerie Percier, Paris
About 1979: Galerie Berri-Lardy, Paris
Until 1980: Sale, Hôtel Rameau, Versailles, 4 June 1980, lot 41 (col. ill.)
Until 1985: Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Paris, March 1985
n.d.: Private Collection
n.d.: Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
From 2010: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from Christie's New York
Notes
This provenance comes from the documentation entered in the digital collection record at the time of accession. More complete information on these owners may be in the Collections Records Object File.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
Collections smARTphone video; Olivier Meslay discusses Chestnut Trees, a Cartoon for a Tiffany Stained-Glass Window by Edouard Vuillard (DMA collection 2010.15.McD ). Presumably this is the same as- DMAmobi 102-- Curator Olivier Meslay discusses this painting
12937022: UMO
Object number in Piction.
Collections smartphone audio about Edouard Vuillard; related to Chestnut Trees, a Cartoon for a Louis Comfort Tiffany Stained-Glass Window, 2010.15.McD, DMA Collection
Object number added to Piction.
mobi stop 102- Learn about Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940).
44997731: UMO
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Introduction: Tastemaking in the Age of Art Nouveau: The Role of Siegfried Bing~Read Gabriel P. Weisenberg's 2005 article on this important patron through the online journal, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- Vuillard wrote to Maurice Denis in May 1894 to invite him to his studio for an informal gathering of artists who might be interested in designing glass objects for Bing. Chestnut Trees was completed soon after the group meeting.
- We know this window was manufactured because it was illustrated in an 1897 periodical but it has since been lost or destroyed.
- Vuillard used distemper paint throughout his career, but his choice of medium posed special challenges. In order to mix the pigments, Vuillard needed to purchase, divide, and dissolve large sheets of glue. Extra time was needed to prepare paper surfaces to make them less absorbent. Colors often needed to be remixed or carefully chosen in order to allow for the lightening effect when the paint dried. (For more information on Vuillard's techniques, see Jacques Salomon, "Vuillard's Techniqe," in Edouard Vuillard 1868-1940, ed. John Russell (London, 1971), 137-140.)
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 2010.15.McD
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Chestnut Trees was commissioned by Siegfried Bing, an art dealer and important patron of Nabi and Art Nouveau artists. After seeing Louis Comfort Tiffany's Favrile glass on a trip to the United States, Bing returned to Paris and commissioned a suite of window designs from the leading Nabis to be produced by Tiffany. Eleven artists submitted window designs to Bing, including Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Paul Elie Ranson, Paul Serusier, Henri Gabriel Ibels, and Felix Vallotton. Tiffany produced thirteen windows in total, but only a few are believed to have survived.
For his window, Vuillard chose a motif of chestnut trees in their spring bloom. By showing them as if seen from a high window above the crowns of the trees, Vuillard was able to incorporate the lead structural elements of the window directly into his design. Later in life, Vuillard would often employ a similar bird's-eye view of the streets and squares of Paris.
Adapted from
Heather MacDonald, DMA Label copy (2010.15.McD) for Small Worlds: Edouard Vuillard and the Intimate Art of the Nabis, October 2014.
Fun Facts
- Vuillard wrote to Maurice Denis in May 1894 to invite him to his studio for an informal gathering of artists who might be interested in designing glass objects for Bing. Chestnut Trees was completed soon after the group meeting.
- We know this window was manufactured because it was illustrated in an 1897 periodical but it has since been lost or destroyed.
- Vuillard used distemper paint throughout his career, but his choice of medium posed special challenges. In order to mix the pigments, Vuillard needed to purchase, divide, and dissolve large sheets of glue. Extra time was needed to prepare paper surfaces to make them less absorbent. Colors often needed to be remixed or carefully chosen in order to allow for the lightening effect when the paint dried. (For more information on Vuillard's techniques, see Jacques Salomon, "Vuillard's Techniqe," in Edouard Vuillard 1868-1940, ed. John Russell (London, 1971), 137-140.)
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Introduction: Tastemaking in the Age of Art Nouveau: The Role of Siegfried Bing~Read Gabriel P. Weisenberg's 2005 article on this important patron through the online journal, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide.
Notes
Former titles: The Stained Glass Window, Les Marroniers ou Le Vitrail.
Enter 2014 label copy into text entries.
Found more recent label in Confluence and did not add this label to TMS text entries for archival purposes because it matched the existing text entry for an earlier label. (1/10/2017)
Nicole Myers, DMA Label copy (2010.15.McD), August 2016. [From PC-2016-EURO-Aug16Rotations-EDITED.docx]
Entered 2012 Guide in text entries.
Published references are in abbreviated format and need expansion. I did not have time to go through and expand these sources.
Exhibition history is also in abbreviated format and needs to be rewritten with complete information.
Provenance is a reformatted version of what was pre-existing in TMS. I was unable to sort through the object file to verify or complete the provenance, but it appears that the resources in the object file likely have additional information.
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2010.15.McD
source file
object_notes_3_c-0215.xml.nores