20
L'heure du thé sur la terrasse de Marquayrol, c.1930
Signed lower left 'Henri Martin'
Oil on canvas
31 7/8 x 51 3/8 in, 81 x 130.5 cm
P R O V E N A N C E
Eugénie Esbelin, Labastide-du-Vert (gifted by the artist c.1935)
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above)
Sale: Sylvie Dagot, Montluçon, 1991
Richard Green Fine Paintings, London (acquired at the above sale)
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1991)
L I T E R AT U R E
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by
Cyrille Martin and dated 10 October 1991
L'heure du thé sur la terrasse de Marquayrol is a painting in flux,
invoking human presence without depicting it. With a
napkin left tumbling off the side of the table and teacups
unattended, Martin creates the feeling that the artist and his
guests have just moved away from the scene. This vacancy
conjures the idea that we are all just guests in nature, with
life always continuing around us. This tender atmosphere
gently suggests Martin's philosophy of life, akin to fellow
Symbolist painter Henri Le Sidaner's notion of mesmeric
'inner life' of seemingly inanimate objects.
L'heure du thé sur la terrasse de Marquayrol was presented as a
gift to one of two housemaids that worked for Henri Martin
during his summers in the south. The work remained in the
family of Eugénie Esbelin for over fifty years before it was
sold in 1991.
