01 Nov
Project Description
Description: Black stone, pen and black ink, watercolour and gouache, gold highlights on paper, 39.9 x 29.2 cm. Titled and inscribed 'Paradise and the Peri. Schumann.' (at the bottom left); signed 'G. MOSSA '(bottom right)Catalogue note: Gustav-Adolf Mossa was a French illustrator, playwright, essayist, curator and Symbolist painter. His father, Alexis Mossa, was a painter and the founding curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice. Mossa studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Nice. He was greatly inspired by the art of Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau and Symbolist writers. Majority of his works were created with water colours and strong ink lines, the subjects including caricatures, carnival or medieval scenes, portraits and landscapes, with a fascination for the French Rivera in particular. He also created wooden reliefs, designed theatre scenery, wrote literary essays and created book illustrations, including a large series of drawings for the work of German composer, Robert Schumann. After the death of his father, Mossa took over the curation of the museum in 1927 until his death in 1971.
Provenance: Acquired from Christie’s, Sale 16485, Lot 106, Invoice no. DB18003025. Donné par l’artiste à un ami, M. Léopold Sanchez. | Collection Alain Lesieutre, Paris. | Vente Champin Lombrail Gautier, Enghien, 25 octobre 1987, lot 121. | Barry Friedman Ltd, New York. | Collection Art Analysis, Paris. | Vente Loudmer, Paris, 16 juin 1991, lot 8
Catalogue no.: 2018P0057-GM
