French Impressionist and Post Impressionist Paintings: Thirty Two Plates From American Collections

New York: Unknown, 1940. Portfolio Wraps. Very good. Portfolio Wraps. 9 3/8" x 6 1/4". Folio of 32 loose plates. Printed recto only with title, artist, plate number, and collection credit beneath each image. Plain brown/orange card wrappers (left flap loose), blank on all surfaces inside and out. No title page, text, colophon, or publisher imprint present.

A significant and unrecorded survey portfolio documenting the finest French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in American private and commercial hands at the close of the 1930s. The plate sequence progresses from Manet through Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Modigliani, Utrillo, and Matisse, drawing from an elite roster of New York and Philadelphia collections active between 1938 and 1942: the Chester Dale Collection (New York); Durand-Ruel Galleries (New York); Bignou Gallery (New York); Marie Harriman Gallery (New York, est. 1930, closed 1942); Pierre Matisse Gallery (New York); the collection of Edward G. Robinson (Beverly Hills); and the Henry P. McIlhenny Collection (Philadelphia). The specific combination of lenders allows the portfolio to be dated with confidence to 1938-1942: Edward G. Robinson acquired his Van Gogh from London dealer Alex Reid & Lefèvre in 1938, establishing the earliest possible date, while the Marie Harriman Gallery closed in 1942, establishing the latest. The publisher has not been identified; the plain wrappers suggest institutional or gallery-shop distribution.
Complete plate list: Plate 1, Man in a Boat by Édouard Manet (Metropolitan Museum of Art); Plate 2, Portrait of Madame Michel Levy by Édouard Manet (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 3, La Route à Chailly Fontainebleu by Claude Monet (Durand-Ruel, New York); Plate 4, Londres: Le Parlement by Claude Monet (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 5, Bassin aux Nymphéas/Iris d'Eau by Claude Monet (Durand-Ruel, New York); Plate 6, Crystal Palace by Camille Pissarro (Durand-Ruel, New York); Plate 7, Le Pont du Carrousel by Camille Pissarro (Durand-Ruel, New York); Plate 8, [unidentified portrait]; Plate 9, La Maison en Provence by Paul Cézanne (Marie Harriman Gallery, New York); Plate 10, [Still Life] by Paul Cézanne (Marie Harriman Gallery, New York); Plate 11, Seated Nude by Auguste Renoir (Marie Harriman Gallery, New York); Plate 12, Gabrielle et Coco by Auguste Renoir (Bignou Gallery, New York); Plate 13, Summer by Auguste Renoir (Bignou Gallery, New York); Plate 14, Paysage près Moret by Alfred Sisley (Durand-Ruel, New York); Plate 15, L'Inondation by Alfred Sisley (Durand-Ruel, New York); Plate 16, Répétition pour le Ballet by Edgar Degas (Bignou Gallery, New York); Plate 17, Portrait du Duc et de la Duchesse Morbilli by Edgar Degas (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 18, Le Jockey by Edgar Degas (Bignou Gallery, New York); Plate 19, La Mousme by Vincent van Gogh (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 20, Arles: Les Nuages Mouvementes by Vincent van Gogh (Bignou Gallery, New York); Plate 21, Trees by Vincent van Gogh (Collection of Edward G. Robinson); Plate 22, Fatata te Miti by Paul Gauguin (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 23, La Montagne Sacrée by Paul Gauguin (Bignou Gallery, New York); Plate 24, Portrait de Madame Dethomas, au Bal de l'Opéra by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 25, La Quadrille au Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 26, Portrait of Leon Bakst by Amedeo Modigliani (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 27, Femme Nue by Amedeo Modigliani (Chester Dale Collection); Plate 28, Souvigny: La Grand Place by Maurice Utrillo (Bignou Gallery, New York); Plate 29, Church by Maurice Utrillo (Henry P. McIlhenny Collection, Philadelphia); Plate 30, Nu Couché by Henri Matisse (Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York); Plate 31, Models Resting by Henri Matisse (Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York); Plate 32, Woman with Bouquet by Henri Matisse (Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York).