Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • Contact Us
  • Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • AMMpro

The Art of Being a Great Collector: Shchukin Collection at Fondation Louis Vuillton

December 19, 2016 by Patrick Legant

claude-monet-le-dejeuner-sur-lherbe

Patrick Legant is an independent art advisor in London for 19th and 20th Century art as well as specializing in German & Austrian Expressionism.  This essay is based upon the show “Icons of Modern Art. The Shchukin Collection” at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (Oct 22, 2016 to Feb 20, 2017.) Subscribers to AMMpro may read the entire work. All subscriptions begin with a free month, so feel free to register to read and cancel as you see fit.

“I am ashamed of my weakness and lack of courage. One must not desert the battlefield without trying to fight. For this reason, I am resolved to exhibit your panels. People will shout and people will laugh, but since I am convinced you are on the right path, maybe time will be my ally. And I will achieve victory in the end.”

Shchukin in a letter to Matisse

Sergei Shchukin (1854-1936), a textile merchant, was one of the most important contemporary art collectors in Russia, if not Europe, until the outbreak of the Russian revolution in 1917. It is his “art of collecting” that is as fascinating to observe and to experience as it is to learn about the developments of the French and Russian avant-garde during the first decades of the 20th Century.

The recently opened, sensational exhibition “Icons of Modern Art. The Shchukin Collection” at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris is an overwhelming experience to see one of the most iconic collections re-united again with holdings of masterpieces from the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to understand and realise the genius and magic of one of the most extraordinary collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modern Art of the early 20th Century. It ranges from Paul Cézanne’s major Mardi gras (Pierrot et Arlequin) of 1888-90 and his Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue des Lauves (1904-05) to Claude Monet’s monumental Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1866) to Paul Gauguin’s Aha oé fee? (Eh quo, tu es jalousie?) (1892) to Picasso’s early major Cubist oil Trois femmes (1907 or 1908), to name only a few stand-out works.

The current exhibition can be seen as the mapping of a collecting journey. It starts off with Shchukin’s so-called “First Collection” (gathered between 1898 and 1905). It clearly represents the approach of a well-to-do, successful businessman who collects art for its decorative value as it was expected of his class. The works ranged from a large and decorative Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones tapestry to a pleasant Armand Guillaumin Impressionist landscape painting. The decorative and the narrative were clearly the guiding points throughout his “First Collection”.


Sign up to Art Market Monitor Premium today

You need a membership to AMMpro to view this article and other exclusive content daily.

You can register today for $90 per month—with your first month free!—or for $756 per year (no free trial period.)

Screenshot 2016-08-05 16.28.45

If you already have an account, sign in here:

 
 
Forgot Password

Filed Under: Premium

Advertise on Art Market Monitor with Nectar Ads

Top Posts

  • Frieze LA Sales Report
  • Sotheby's to Sell SFMoMA's $35m Rothko for Acquisitions Firepower
  • Early Gauguin Work Emerges at Sotheby's Paris After a Century in Same Family
  • Sotheby's Celebrates Bauhaus's Centenary with 25 Works in Imp-Mod Sales
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Sotheby's Brings AI Portraiture Work to Contemporary Day Sale in March
  • Artelligence Podcast: Selling Art in the Digital Age
  • Simon de Pury's Lawsuit Reveals True Price Paid for Gauguin's Nafea faa ipoipo (When will you marry?)


  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • Art Loans
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Advertise on Art Market Monitor