Vincent VAN GOGH (1853 - 1890) Lot n° 20

Head of a man wearing a hat, ca. 1886 - 1887 Pencil on paper Signed lower right Inscribed and signed in ink "certified by Vincent Van Gohg [sic]/Émile Bernard" lower Annotated in pencil "reproduce to size/nature" lower On the back: a female nude in ink and blue pencil by Émile Bernard Pencil on paper, signed lower right, inscribed and signed "certified by Vincent Van Gohg [sic]/Émile Bernard" lower and annotated "reproduce to size/natural" lower; a female nude by Émile Bernard on the reverse 12.4 x 7.5 cm - 4 7/8 x 3 in. PROVENANCE Probably: Émile Bernard Collection Sale, Impressionist and Modern Drawings and Watercolours, Sotheby's, London, 4 April 1990, lot 105 Private collection, France (acquired in previous sale) Sale, Impressionist and Modern Art, Sotheby's, Paris, 8 December 2011, lot 69 BIBLIOGRAPHY - Letters from Vincent Van Gogh to Émile Bernard, Paris : Ambroise Vollard, 1911, reproduced plate XLIII (titled Sketch (head of a man)) - Jacob Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh: his paintings and drawings, Amsterdam: Meulenhoff International, 1970, described under no. SD1715 and reproduced p. 583 (titled Sketch of a man's head and dated "1887") - Jan Hulsker, The Complete Van Gogh: paintings, drawings, sketches, Oxford: Phaidon, 1980, described as no. 1161 and reproduced p. 253 (titled Head of a Man with Hat) - Jan Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches: revised and enlarged edition of the catalog raisonné of the works of Vincent Van Gogh, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: J.M. Meulenhoff and John Benjamins, 1996, described under no. 1161, p. 252 and reproduced p. 253. 252 and reproduced p. 253 (titled Head of a Man with Hat and dated "Summer 1886") - Marije Vellekoop and Sjraar van Heugten, Vincent Van Gogh Drawings, Volume 3, Antwerp & Paris, 1885 - 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam: Lund Humphries Publishers, 2001, described as no. 293b and reproduced p. 239 (titled Head of a man wearing a hat and dated "1887") "Paris was famed for the variety of public entertainment it offered in the losing decades of the 19th century. People went to the theatre, the opera or the ballet, listened to concerts, danced in one of the many dance-halls, or relaxed during an evening at a 'café-concert'. The music was provided by orchestras or smaller ensembles. The musicians, the other performers and the public were depicted on many occasions in paintings and drawings, particularly by the Impressionists (fig. 293a), which Van Gogh would undoubtedly have known. Although there is little information about how Van Gogh amused himself in his spare time, it can be assumed that he, too, visited these establishments, given the large number of them and his friendship with artists like Toulouse-Lautrec. The only Paris works recording such visits are the five drawings discussed here and cat. 300. The musicians, who did not pose for the drawings, were captured swiftly and convincingly. [...] All five are rapid sketches in which parallel lines were used to capture the figures. This vigorous style is also found in various other works from the Paris period, such as Dying slave and figures at a table (cat. 283), Study for Woman sitting by a cradle (cat. 306) and Head of a man wearing a hat (fig. 293b). [...] The coloured chalk (and it should be pointed out that it is not known precisely when Van Gogh started using it) combined with the swift execution provide the evidence for dating the group in the first half of 1887 after all. That broad span can be narrowed to the first quarter of the year, because a drawing related to the group, Head of a man (possibly Theo van Gogh) (cat. 299), left an impression on a neighboring sheet which Van Gogh only used in the spring or summer of 1887 for Study for 'Woman sitting by a cradle' (cat. 306). Confirmation that the drawings were not made before then is provided by the small sketch, Head of a man wearing a hat (fig. 293b), which was also executed with firm, broad strokes. Van Gogh drew it in one of his sketchbooks, signed it, tore it out and gave it to his friend Emile Bernard, with whom he only struck up a friendship in the early months of 1887." Marije Vellekoop and Sjraar van Heugten, Vincent Van Gogh Drawings, Volume 3, Antwerp & Paris, 1885 - 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam: Lund Humphries Publishers, 2001, pp. 231 - 238 "Among the work Vincent did in Paris is a series of hastily done sketches of musicians and other figures and heads (1151-63), a rather unexpected new subject. The only things more or less comparable are a few sketchbook sheets from the Antwerp period, such as the scenes in a dance hall (968 and 969). They are somewhat humorous sketches, probably done very rapidly, with forceful parallel lines that aptly capture the subjects and their attitudes." Jan Hulsker, "Drawings of the Human Figure," in The New