Maurice CHABAS (Nantes, 1862 - Versailles, 1947) Reverie on the past Oil on canvas (Original canvas) Signed 'Maurice Chabas' lower right No frame Reverie on the past, oil on canvas, signed, by M. Chabas 30.88 x 23.62 in. 81.5 x 60.0 cm Provenance: Sale of the Maurice Chabas workshop; Versailles, Me Blache, 1 October 1972 ; Gérard Lévy Collection; Then by descent Exhibitions: Salon des Artistes Français, Paris, Grand Palais, April - May 1904, cat. no. 372: "Rêverie sur le passé" ("Reverie on the past") Maurice Chabas, Peintre et messager spirituel (1862-1947), Musée de Bourgoin-Jallieu, September 2009; Pont-Aven, Musée des Beaux-arts, 30 April - 29 August 2010, cat. no. 19: "Rêverie", reproduced p. 54 [work dated circa 1905]. Le Symbolisme & Rhône-Alpes, de Puvis de Chavannes à Fantin-Latour, 1880-1920, Villefranche-sur-Saône, Musée municipal Paul-Dini, 17 October 2010 - 13 February 2011, p. 153 ["Rêverie", work dated circa 1905] Bibliography: Baschet, Ludovic, Catalogue illustré du Salon de 1904, Librairie d'Art, 1904, cat. no. 372: "Rêverie sur le passé" [Reverie on the past]. Jullian, Philippe, The Symbolists, Paris, Phaidon, 1973, cat. no. 11: "Rêverie", reproduced p. 59 [work dated circa 1905]. Exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1904 (cat. no. 372), our Rêverie by Chabas belongs to the most modern part of his production. At the end of the century, he produced a number of large-scale decors, notably for the town hall in the 14th arrondissement of Paris in 1889, the town hall in Vincennes in 1898, and the Gare de Lyon-Perrache, and adopted the divisionism of the Neo-Impressionists, increasingly favouring depictions of skies and dream landscapes. From 1900 onwards, he moved towards a stylistic simplification that was rigorously subjected to spiritual and cosmic thought, culminating around 1920 in total abstraction. Thus, while a certain fragmentation of the brushstrokes persists in the treatment of the vegetation in the foreground, the artist otherwise strives to stylize his subject into areas of colour delimited by clearly defined contours. In addition to the veiled figure caught in contemplation on the edge of his stone terrace, Chabas emphasises the power of the natural elements of his idyllic landscape in the background: the calm expanse of water and the mineral masses of the mountains. Maurice CHABAS (Nantes, 1862 - Versailles, 1947) 81.5 x 60.0 cm Exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1904 (cat. no. 372), our Rêverie by Chabas belongs to the most modern part of his production. At the end of the century, he produced a large number of large-scale decors, notably for the town hall in the 14th arrondissement of Paris in 1889, the town hall in Vincennes in 1898, and the Gare de Lyon-Perrache. He adopted the divisionism of the Neo-Impressionists, increasingly favouring depictions of skies and dream landscapes. From 1900 onwards, he moved towards a stylistic simplification that was rigorously subjected to spiritual and cosmic thought, culminating around 1920 in total abstraction. Thus, while a certain fragmentation of the brushstroke persists in the treatment of the vegetation in the foreground, the artist otherwise strives to stylize his subject into surfaces of colour delimited by clearly defined contours. In addition to the veiled figure captured in contemplation on the edge of his stone terrace, Chabas emphasises the power of the natural elements of his idyllic landscape in the background: the calm expanse of water and the mineral masses of the mountains.