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)
Thence by descent to the present owner
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 pointillist style after seeing George Seurat’s Un Dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte, the monumental Pointillist scene that indelibly impacted the course of modern art, at an exhibition in Brussels in 1887.

The present work was exhibited in a show put together by the progressive Belgian artistic circle Les XX the year it was painted, and later at the Galerie Maurice in Paris, where it was illustrated on the cover of the exhibition catalogue.

Here, Lemmen combines meticulous pointillist technique with an intimiste sensibility, capturing the likeness of his sister Julie engaged in sewing in a striking portrait.

In 1961, The Art Institute of Chicago acquired a related 1891 portrait.