Provenance

Captain Edward H. Molyneux

British, 1891 - 1974

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This abstract, horizontal painting is created with broad, visible strokes in areas of saffron orange, harvest yellow, carnation pink, violet, tomato red, cobalt and ultramarine blue, and shades of icy, seafoam, and pine green. Many of the colors are layered like strata in a canyon. A few objects are more recognizable, like a loosely painted pink kettle with royal-blue highlights at the back next to a bottle outlined with blue against the background. A spring-green teapot with a peach lid is to our right. The surface, presumably the table, is painted in tones of marigold and pumpkin orange. The left two-thirds of the background is painted with strokes of lavender-blue and mauve-pink streaked with cream white. The rightmost third is lapis blue. The artist signed the painting in the upper right corner, “Henri Matisse.”
Henri Matisse, Still Life, c. 1905, oil on cardboard on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.40

Still Life

Henri Matisse · c. 1905 · oil on cardboard on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.40

Eight men, women, and children stand or sit in straight-backed, wooden chairs gathered along a sandy beach near low, gently breaking waves with sailboats floating in the ocean beyond in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted throughout, making much of the detail indistinct. Most of the people sit with their backs to us but the faces we can see suggest they have light skin. The people gather in a loose crowd that spans the left half of the composition, except for one woman wearing white and holding a blue parasol who sits to the right. The women wear long dresses with full skirts in shades of black, aquamarine or arctic blue, or snowy white. They all wear straw-colored hats with royal-blue bands. The three men also wear hats and suits in black or pecan brown. Two women, in addition to the one sitting alone, hold up blue parasols. One child wears a white dress and hat, and the other wears shades of blue and a straw hat with a red band. A white dog with brown spots stands on our side of the chairs near a woman and the child wearing white. One tall, wooden pole with a blue banner rises high above the crowd near the left edge of the composition, and another with a red pennant is farther back to the right. Between the group and the water, a person rides a brown horse, several women walk, and two children play in the sand. A rowboat is near the breaking waves and five white sailboats line the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up this painting. A steamship leaves a line of muted lilac-purple smoke in the deep distance to the right. A blanket of pale gray clouds cover much of the bright blue sky. The artist signed the lower right corner, “E. Boudin.”
Eugène Boudin, Beach at Trouville, 1864/1865, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.12

Beach at Trouville

Eugène Boudin · 1864/1865 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.12

This painting shows five people in an indoor setting: two adults and three children. In the center, a woman is seated next to a piece of red-brown furniture, holding a baby in a long white garment with a wide neckline. Another woman stands beside her on the right, turned toward the baby. Both women have brown hair styled up and wear black dresses. On the left, a child in a black garment appears to sit next to the seated woman, reaching towards the baby. In the bottom right corner, another baby wearing a white garment seems to be seated, facing the left. All of the people have pale skin. The background is abstract, with brown and green shapes suggesting a wall and a doorway on the left. The background is filled with thin, scribbled lines, and the brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible.
Pierre Bonnard, The Artist's Sister and Her Children, 1898, oil on cardboard on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.6

The Artist's Sister and Her Children

Pierre Bonnard · 1898 · oil on cardboard on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.6

This painting shows a woman with her face turned to the left and her back to us, holding a piece of white fabric in her left hand. She has pale yellow skin and dark brown hair tied up into a loose bun or knot at the back of her head. Her face is blurred, with no features beyond the vague outline of a nose and a few dots of paint suggesting an eye. She is wearing a long, dark blue long garment that she appears to be putting on or taking off, with her right hand raised up to her shoulder. Behind her is a low brown table or countertop, and the background is painted in muted mustard and beige tones. The brushstrokes are thick and visible on top of a textured surface.
Edouard Vuillard, Woman at Her Toilette, c. 1891, oil on cardboard, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.91

Woman at Her Toilette

Edouard Vuillard · c. 1891 · oil on cardboard ·  Accession ID  1970.17.91

People and a horse-drawn wagon move along a street lined with buildings on the left and trees on the right in this loosely painted horizontal landscape. The wide street angles from the bottom left of the composition to the middle right. The surface of the road is painted with strokes of apricot orange, light gray, rust red, and olive green, and it leads back to a slate-blue, blurred area suggesting trees in the distance. The two, three, or four-story buildings are close together or may be joined. They are painted in muted tones of parchment white, pale peach, and blue gray. Closest to us and to the left, a long brown roof and two bare trees sit beyond an ivy-covered stone wall. The people are indistinct and small in relation to the scene and are dressed in black, brown, olive-green, and slate-blue clothing. One of two carriages is across the road from us and the second one is farther back. On our side of the road, a man wearing a long black jacket and gray pants strolls away from us past a neat row of trees lining the peach-colored sidewalk. The overcast gray and pale pink sky is above. The artist signed and dated the lower left corner, “Sisley. 72.”
Alfred Sisley, Boulevard Héloïse, Argenteuil, 1872, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.82

Boulevard Héloïse, Argenteuil

Alfred Sisley · 1872 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.82

Painted with wide strokes in almost geometric areas of mottled color, a woman wearing a long black dress stands at the side of a table in this stylized, vertical composition. The table stretches two-thirds of the way across the painting from the right edge, and the woman stands at the left side so her lower body is partially behind the table. Her copper-brown hair appears to be pulled up, and her face is painted as a peach-colored profile but without features. Her hands rest on the table near a white plate holding six yellow orbs, presumably fruit. To the right of the plate is a light brown object lined with orange along its left side, but this form is difficult to interpret because the painting is done in such a broad style. Along the left edge of the painting, a dark, pecan-brown door opens next to a rectangular object, probably a clock, on the beige-colored wall behind the woman and table. The floor is a shade between dusky green and brown. The left edge of the cardboard on which this is painted appears streaked, perhaps lightly or incompletely filled in. The artist signed the lower left corner, “E. Vuillard.
Edouard Vuillard, Woman in Black, c. 1891, oil on cardboard, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.93

Woman in Black

Edouard Vuillard · c. 1891 · oil on cardboard ·  Accession ID  1970.17.93

A child and man stand facing away from us in this vertical painting. The scene is painted with visible dabs, stipples, and strokes of paint, and many details, especially in the distance, are indistinct. A young girl is to the left, a blue band holding back her long brown hair. Despite the title of this painting, Child Wearing a Red Scarf, she wears a bulky, pumpkin-orange scarf around her neck over an ankle-length dress dotted with red. Streaks of brown suggest shoes under the lower hem. The person to our right wears dark trousers, a brown, long-sleeved shirt, and olive-green shoes outlined with black. This person’s right leg and head above the shoulders are cropped by the composition. A peach area suggests that the girl holds the hand or something by the man’s pants pocket but this area is difficult to read. The ground is ecru white, and loosely painted forms along the top of the composition suggest people standing and the room in the distance. The artist signed to top right corner, “E Vuillard.”
Edouard Vuillard, Child Wearing a Red Scarf, c. 1891, oil on cardboard, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.90

Child Wearing a Red Scarf

Edouard Vuillard · c. 1891 · oil on cardboard ·  Accession ID  1970.17.90

A white path and gray stone wall wind through ochre and harvest-yellow fields beneath a brilliant, turquoise sky in this stylized, horizontal landscape painting. The scene is created with long, visible brushstrokes of vivid color. Closest to us, the field is painted with vertical strokes of golden yellow and pea green. Touches of cardinal red and slashes of pine green create flowers around the end of the stone wall, which curves toward us from the background, at the center of this painting. The wall is painted with horizontal dashes of lilac and lavender purple, salmon pink, and periwinkle blue. A person wearing peach-colored trousers, a peacock-blue shirt, and a dark hat walks away from us, into the field, to our left of the wall. The white road enters the scene from the right, and meets the stone wall and a second wall on the far side of the road at a gate. Two columns rise from the walls to mark the spot of the gate, which opens into a property with three tall haystacks and a house. To our left, the house is painted with areas of warm yellow for the walls, honey brown for the roof, which is outlined in navy blue, and turquoise for the doors and windows. A few green trees, made of dots of bottle and forest green, are scattered near the house and haystacks. One sapphire-blue tree grows near the house. A band of azure blue along the horizon, which comes about two-thirds of the way up the painting, suggests a mountain range in the distance. Swirls of white suggest clouds in the turquoise sky. The paint is visibly textured throughout.
Vincent van Gogh, Farmhouse in Provence, 1888, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.34

Farmhouse in Provence

Vincent van Gogh · 1888 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.34

Two people are depicted in this painting. The person on the left is standing with their hands on a wooden chair. They have light skin, close-cut hair, and wear a long, black, high-necked dress. The person on the right is seated or standing in front of a wooden table. They wear a white ruffled top and a dark red skirt with lighter red spots, and their hair is styled back in a bun. Their skin is pale yellow, and they hold a light-colored piece of fabric or paper. The two people are looking towards each other. On the table between the two people there appears to be a red bowl and a patterned, off-white object with a black handle. In the background are muted beige walls with a brown and white patterned object near the top left corner. The paint has been applied in thick brushstrokes, and the people and objects lack detail.
Edouard Vuillard, The Conversation, 1891, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.92

The Conversation

Edouard Vuillard · 1891 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.92

This painting shows a person seated at a table in a bright yellow chair, facing the right. The person has pale skin and gray hair, and they are wearing a loose-fitting light brown garment, similar to a long coat or dress. On the table in front of them appear to be various indistinct objects in shades of white and red. The background has a dark green area on the right which may be a wall or curtain, with a lighter area on the left that maybe be a window or door. The floor is painted in shades of brown and beige. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible, making the scene appear blurred.
Edouard Vuillard, Breakfast, 1894, oil on cardboard, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.97

Breakfast

Edouard Vuillard · 1894 · oil on cardboard ·  Accession ID  1970.17.97

Bibliography

1952

  • Talmey, Allene. "Captain Molyneux." Vogue (15 August 1952): 132-133+.

  • French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection. Exh. Cat. National Gallery of Art, 1952.

1956

  • Picken, Mary Brooks and Dora Loues Miller. Dressmakers of France. New York, 1956:52-54

1974

  • "Capt. Edward H. Molyneux, 79; Dominated Fashions for Years." The New York Times (1974) March 24: 34

  • "Capt Edward Molyneux: Leading Paris fashion designer." The Times of London (1974) March 25:14