(Laval 1844–1910 Paris)
Pastoral landscape with stream, fisherman and strollers,
c. 1875–1880, signed H. Rousseau, oil on canvas, 38 x 46 cm, framed

Photo certificate:
Yann le Pichon, Sèvres, 13 April 2012.

This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné of Henri “Le Douanier” Rousseau’s paintings and sculptures currently being compiled by Mr. Yann le Pichon.

Provenance:
Private Collection, Nevers
thence by descent
Michaud Enchères SVV, Nevers, 21 April 2012
acquired from the above by the present owner –
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
Shizuoka, Léonard Foujita et Paris, 1913–1931: le centenaire de son arrivée à Paris, Shizuoka city museum of art, 20 April - 20 June 2013, travel exhibition to Kumamoto, Kumamoto prefectural museum of art, 2 July - 25 August 2013 /
Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu municipal museum of art, 31 August - 20 October 2013 / Kyoto, Museum Kyoto, 25 October - 1 December 2013 /
Akita, Akita museum of art, 7 December 2013 – 2 February 2014 /
Okayama, Okayama prefectural museum of art, 2 February – 6 April 2014, exh. cat. page 156, no. 94 with ill. (essays, Sylvie Buisson, Sophie Krebs,
Yann le Pichon, Satoshi Murakami)
Laval, Jules Lefranc, un certain regard, Musée d’art naïf et d’arts singuliers,
18 March - 11 June 2017, exh. cat. ill. page 38
Lille, De Picasso à Séraphine: Wilhelm Uhde et les primitifs modernes,
Musée d’art moderne Lille, 29 September 2017 – 1 January 2018

Henri „Le Douanier“ Rousseau was held in high regard by his artistic friends of the Parisian avant-garde, such as Picasso, Delaunay and Gauguin, and had a significant impact on the development of modern painting thanks to his dream-like images.

This river landscape is an early piece and documents the foundations of the artist‘s work. It was created before Rousseau, who was self-taught, fully devoted himself to his career as an artist in 1893. At this time, he was working as a lowly tax clerk at the customs office on the outskirts of Paris, which later led to him being given the nickname of „The Customs Clerk“.

The work shows a detailed, realistic view of everyday life in the suburbs. Starting from the bridge crossing the river in the foreground, the diagonal line of the exit road draws the viewer‘s gaze into the landscape. The various buildings in the depths of the graduated space of the image include suburban houses that bear traces of agricultural practices and early industrial factories with their chimneys billowing smoke. The painting is testament to Rousseau‘s ability to see things without bias and vividly recognise his direct surroundings. It is shaped by his desire to reproduce things exactly, his pleasure in telling stories, and his passionate affection for objects. The rows of trees and forests are evidence of the quality of a refined depiction of nature with a great amount of variety in terms of subtle blue and green shades, which also shape his later images.

Paul Eluard
Foreword to the catalogue of the Rousseau exhibition at the Musée d‘Art Moderne
de la Ville de Paris – 1944:

A good, kind person, with a skilful hand able to work a paintbrush like hardly anyone else; a person who paints portraits and landscapes; a public official and a friend of Apollinaire, Alfred Jarry and Picasso. He is able to paint the Eiffel Tower, a small car, an airship or an aeroplane as if you were sitting inside it yourself. He makes people smile, but they like him.
He is so likeable that, nowadays, every art dealer around the globe, every museum…
Rousseau, seen poetically: he believed he was a person like everyone else, not an intellectual, no, he was a wind player in the Mexican Army, a sergeant in the war of the 70s, an employee at Paris‘ municipal customs office, a supervisor for on-street sales of the Petit Parisien (in Plaisance) and a clarinet teacher. A genuinely pleasant person and a great painter who painted on the basis of light and for the sake of displaying things as they truly are. He gave life to the clouds and the leaves on the trees, and he even knew how to paint dreams, like Monsieur Courbet (with whom he was not acquainted). In line with his unpretentious approach, Henri Rousseau - fortunately for us - was convinced that he had to show what he had in front of him. And it was love that was in front of him; and that will always seem like a miracle to us.