Lot 951
951
GOGH, Vincent van (1853-1890). ("Pensioner drinking coffee"). The Hague, c. 20 November 1882. Transfer lithograph in black ink on wove paper. Signed on the transfer paper at lower left. 433 x 264 mm (image size), 542 x 374 (paper size).
Lithographed portrait of the Dutch war veteran Adrianus Jacobus Zuyderland - note the decoration pinned to his lapel - who was Van Gogh's favorite model during his The Hague period. It is one of only three known impressions: two are now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum at Amsterdam. An impression that was offered for sale at Sotheby's in 2016 turned out to be a reproduction printed on Japanese paper. All three impressions are mentioned in Van Heugten & Pabst in their 'The Graphic Work of Vincent van Gogh' (1995), and with reference to the third (this) copy they write "Present whereabouts unknown" (p. 92). As the other known impressions, this lithograph is retouched by the artist in places with light grey colour wash and black ink. Furthermore, the underlining of the signature, 'Vincent', is extended by hand with a thin line of black ink. Van Gogh produced only nine lithographs during the period 1882/1883 and most of the prints had very small runs, in several cases only three or four impressions are known. It was Van Gogh's intention to make a much larger series of 30 prints consisting of similar figures, but he never reached that goal. The 'Pensioner drinking coffee' represents a group of five lithographs depicting 'ordinary people' and the reason why he chose to use lithography as a medium, was that it enabled him to produce prints for (and of!) the ordinary man at affordable prices, 10 to 15 cents each. Prints like the 'Pensioner drinking coffee' fit into a stream of social realism that was popular around 1880: "Van Gogh's lithographs were deliberate attempts to emulate French and above all English artists, (…). The series of illustrations of working-class characters that appeared in the English periodical 'The Graphic' under the collective title 'Heads of the people' was a prime source of inspiration for van Gogh." (Van Heugten & Pabst, p. 11). - Condition: margins possibly cropped but the paper size of this impression seems to be larger than the other known impressions, margins on v° show very faint traces of earlier glueing to passepartout, upper margin hinged to passepartout, some unobtrusive water staining in right outer/lower half, paper a bit age-toned, else fine. - Provenance: Anthon van Rappard? > Collection De Kanter > Kunstzaal/Art Gallery d'Audretsch (inventory ticket with nr. 5737 available) and subsequently through descent within the family. This lot comes with a recent certificate of authenticity issued by the Van Gogh Museum.€ 80000
result € 220000
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