Breton Lacemakers

Five women dressed in the traditional shawls, lace caps, and wooden shoes of the French coastal province of Brittany form a circle on the shore in Bernhard Gutmann’s Breton Lacemakers. In a group united in a mood of calm conviviality, each figure is bent on her work, making the fine needle lace for which the region is famous. Framed by the slender trunks of two trees, the calm sea, punctuated by a small sailboat, stretches away toward a distant curving arm of the coastline. Gutmann’s vibrant technique of raw brushstrokes laid side-by-side reduces objects to their essential forms and unites the composition by a rough, seemingly vibrating surface texture.

Gutmann painted Breton Lacemakers at the end of five years he spent in France between 1907 and 1912. Based in Paris, the artist spent summers on the Brittany coast, long the haunt of artists from both sides of the Atlantic. In this work, his use of slightly eccentric color, such as lavender, acid green, and bleached aqua, and his expressive brushwork signal his sympathy with the concerns of the movement known as post-impressionism. Brittany, with its picturesque peasant life, had nurtured the development of the mode, notably in the work of French artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), who had stayed there in 1886. Gutmann avoided much of the symbolist undertones characteristic of post-impressionism, however. His paintings of Breton rural life belong to an American tradition of nostalgic fascination for the quaint ways of Old World peasantry.

Breton Lacemakers is among Gutmann’s most important paintings. It was exhibited at the 1913 annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; the following year, it appeared in his solo show at the Arlington Art Galleries in New York City. These were among several exhibitions by which Gutmann, shortly after his return from abroad, established himself in his adopted homeland as an important American proponent of the post-impressionist aesthetic. The first oil painting by Gutmann ever acquired by a museum, Breton Lacemakers remains his best-known work.

108th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 9-March 30, 1913, no. 671 (as Lacemakers: Brittany).

Exhibition of Paintings by Bernhard Gutmann, Arlington Art Galleries, New York, New York, March 2–14, 1914.

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: Transformations in the Modern American Mode, 1885-1945, Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, New York, March 29–May 14, 1988. [exh. cat.]

Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 11–October 31, 1997.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999. [exh. cat.]

Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900 (Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

En plein air: personnages dans un paysage (En Plein Air: Figures in a Landscape), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004.

Le Passage à Paris: les artistes américains en France, 1860–1930 (Passing through Paris: American Artists in France, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, April 1–October 31, 2005. [exh. brochure]

Le Passage à Paris: les artistes américains en France, 1860–1930 (Passing through Paris: American Artists in France, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, April 1–October 29, 2006. [exh. brochure]

Preato, Robert R., Sandra L. Langer and James D. Cox. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. (exh. cat., Grand Central Art Galleries, Inc.). New York: Grand Central Art Galleries, Inc., 1988. Ill. cover (color detail), p. 80 (color).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 83; fig. 80, p. 84 (black & white).

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text p. 83; fig. 80, p. 84 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 23, 28 (checklist); ill. p. 46 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 23, 28 (checklist); ill. p. 46 (color).

Griffith, Bronwyn A. E. Passing Through Paris: Americans in France, 1860–1930. (exh. brochure, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2005. Text n.p.; fig. 10, n.p. (color).

Griffith, Bronwyn A. E. Le Passage à Paris: les artistes américains en France, 1860–1930. (exh. brochure, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2005. Text n.p.; fig. 10, n.p. (color).