Georges Lemmen (1865 - 1916)

Provenance:
Julie Lemmen, Brussels (acquired directly from the artist)
Lise Lemmen-Thévenin, Toulon (the artist’s daughter)
Galerie André Maurice, Paris (acquired by 1959, probably from the above)
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York (acquired from the above in May 1959)
Private Collection, Florida (acquired from the above in 1960)
Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, May 14, 2025, lot 219
 


Exhibition:
Brussels, Les XX, Huitième exposition annuelle, Georges Lemmen, 1891, no. 2 (titled Jeune femme faisant du crochet)
Brussels, Galerie Georges Giroux, Exposition G. Lemmen, 1913, no. 6 (titled La Couture)
Paris, Galerie André Maurice, Exposition rétrospective de Georges Lemmen (1865-1916), Du pointillisme à l’intimisme, 1959, no. 21, illustrated on the cover (titled Tante Julie)
 


Literature:
Roger Cardon, Georges Lemmen, Antwerp, 1990, n.n., p. 87, illustrated
This work will be included in the forthcoming Georges Lemmen catalogue raisonné being prepared by Olivier Bertrand.
 


Georges Lemmen adopted the Neo-Impressionist style after seeing George Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte at the inaugural exhibition of Les XX, a progressive Belgian artist’s group, in February 1897. Seurat’s monumental painting impacted the course of modern art. Lemmen was elected a member of Les XX in 1888, exhibiting with them from 1889-1892, and then with its successor La Libre Esthetique.

Here, broadly painted dabs of pink, orange and green contrast with densely packed dots, setting the image in trembling motion. Julie’s rapt concentration and religious inwardness recall Dutch 17th century paintings of Lacemakers by Nicolas Maes and Johannes Vermeer.

Lemmen used the newly minted Pointillism technique for a second 1891 portrait of Julie in The Art Institute of Chicago.