Landscape at Pont-Aven

[1] Paul Ranson was a painter, writer, creative leader of the Nabis group and personal friend of Paul Sérusier. Landscape at Pont-Aven (Stone-cutters) is seen on the wall of Ranson's apartment in Edouard Vuillard's painting La Dame en Bleu of 1895 [information kindly communicated by Guy Cogeval, director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, in a letter to Pierre Théberge, dated 1998/8/4, NGC curatorial file].

[2] The painting carries two labels by the Galerie Druet on the stretcher. Its title is marked on both labels as Tailleurs de pierre. One label is stamped with the stock number 6909, the other one with stock number: 5252 (or 5257).

[3] In two letters to the director of the National Gallery of Canada, H.O. McCurry, dated January 19, 1953 and April 4, 1953, Peter Eilers, director of Van Wisselingh & Co., mentions that the Landscape at Pont-Aven (Stone-cutters) came “from the Collection of H. Kapferer, Paris”.Two inscriptions on the verso read: “Musée d'Albi / M. Kapferer”, and “Kapferer 6”. Henri Kapferer (also: Henry), French Jewish art collector from Paris, founded the company that later became Air France. He lived together with his brother Marcel with whom he occasionally co-owned paintings. The Kapferer collection was confiscated by the “Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg” (ERR) at Château de Brissac in August 1941. Henri Kapferer was able to recover some of his artworks by 1947. It is not clear if Sérusier's Landscape at Pont-Aven (Stone-cutters) was among the looted items.

[4] The Van Wisselingh stock books record “M.Kapferer” (=Monsieur Kapferer) as owner of the painting until 1952 [Van Wisselingh archive, stock number S 7248, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Dokumentatie, The Hague, The Netherlands].

[5] See note [4].