Aaron Anderson
Specialist, Head of Sale
Lot 51
Francisco Manuel Oller y Cesteros(1833-1917)A still life with peonies 14 7/8 x 18 1/2in (37.8 x 47cm)
20 November 2019, 13:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$37,575 inc. premium
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Francisco Manuel Oller y Cesteros (1833-1917)
A still life with peonies
signed 'Oller' (lower left)
oil on canvas
14 7/8 x 18 1/2in (37.8 x 47cm)
signed 'Oller' (lower left)
oil on canvas
14 7/8 x 18 1/2in (37.8 x 47cm)
Footnotes
Provenance
Sale, Auktionshaus Michael Zeller, 99. Internationale Bodensee Auktion, 4 December 2008, lot 520;
Acquired from the above by the present owner.
Francisco Oller is considered as one of the key artists to revolutionize the school of painting in his native Puerto Rico and align it with the modern currents of the 19th century in Paris and Madrid. Born to a wealthy family in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Oller was able to develop his artistic abilities early on and to travel to Madrid and Paris for his education. In Paris, he studied under Thomas Couture and Gustave Courbet and exhibited his works next to the Impressionist painters Bazile, Renoir, Monet and Sisley. His contributions to the development of the Impressionist movement were significant during his twenty year stay in Europe and his friendship with Cezanne and Camille Pissaro.
While experimenting with many styles of painting, Oller found the Realist and Naturalist techniques to lend themselves ideally to the depictions of daily life in his native Puerto Rico. From portraits of local figures, peasants working the fields to historical subjects from Puerto Rico's past, colorful still lives and lush, tropical landscapes would make up Oller's rich body of work.
In the present painting, Oller is echoing his French contemporary Fantin-Latour's vibrant bouquets against a textured wallpaper of saturated pink. Later in life, upon his return to Puerto Rico, the flowers would give way to the indigenous fruits and vegetables of his island that would take center stage in large, recurrent renditions of still lives.