Ladies Gathering

#93030     50″ X 66″      oc

• Renoir: “Lady with a Fan” (1906)
• Picasso: “The Kept Woman (Courtesan with the Necklace of Germs)” (1901)
• Matisse: “Portrait of Mme Matisse” (1913)
• Cezanne: “Still Life with Putto” (1895)
• Bounard: “Tea or the Blue Toque” (1917)
• ․Japanese a la Utamaro

At first glance, this painting looks like a casual gathering of three interesting ladies playing cards, yet it actually reveals a historical “rencontre.”

The lady on the left is from Renoir’s “Lady with A Fan” (1906), depicting his friend Riviere’s robust yet delicate daughter; the woman in the middle is evidently Madame Matisse, an austere yet sensitive portrait by her husband; and on the right-hand side is Picasso’s “The Kept Woman” (1901), a courtesan with a necklace of gems, a painting deeply influenced by Toulouse Lautrec.

Sitting around a round table facing the sunshine, it seems that these three ladies have just finished playing cards, which are now open and scattered along the table, while Picasso’s woman on the right tells a story, gesturing her hands to embellish her tale.

Historically speaking, the scene symbolizes a happy epoque in Paris’ art scene: passing from Impressionism to Fauvism then to Cubism. A Japanese lady of Utamaro’s style walks behind them, suggesting the Meiji Restoration of Japan, an effort towards modernism.

Artistically speaking, the radiant background in red unifies the four different characters in a warm, intimate atmosphere, resonant with the red strips of the tablecloth. The arrangement of the scattered cards are enriched by the still-life of flowers, fruit, and teapot.

– T. F. and Julie Chen

A table, round, square or rectangular on the foreground of a picture, then you can gather three or four persons to play cards together with or without bystanders behind them and you will have a conventional painting of cardplayers, including T. F. Chen’s “Cardplayers Series”. Yet Chen gathered famous men and women from art history instead of contemporary friends for the game.

Here Matisse’s wife,, Picasso’s courtesan and Renoir’s model with a fan occupy the table. They need another partner for the play and Bounard’s lady with blue toque appears at the lower right corner of the painting, almost invisible. It must be a summer afternoon, for both the Renoir’s girl and the Japanese lady behind Mme Matisse hold each a fan while Picasso’s courtesan exposes shoulders to cool down the heat. Mme Matisse dressed quite formally in dignity and grace, being probably the host of the occasion.

Cezanne is present, not by himself but by his apples on the table. The two bouquets might be brought by the guests from Renoir and Bounard. This may regard as a happy scenario of modernism to post-modernism by T. F. Chen, synthesizing Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Orientalism etc. for a new dimension in art and conception.

– T. F. Chen