Henri Le Sidaner (1862–1939)

HENRI EUGÈNE LE SIDANER (French, 1862–1939)
Canal à Annecy,1936
Oil on canvas, 23 5/8 x 28 3/4 in.

RECORDED: Yann Farineaux-Le Sidaner, Le Sidaner: L’oeuvre peint et gravé (1989), p. 279 no. 766 illus.

EXHIBITED: Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1939, Le Sidaner, no. 32 // Musée Galliéra, Paris, 1948, Retrospective Le Sidaner, 1862–1939, no. 112

EX COLL.: Charles Henry Hirsch, Paris; sale, Christies, London, April 4, 1978, no. 6 illus.; to private collection; sale Phillips, London, June 29, 1987, no. 112; to private collection, and by descent, until the present

Canal à Annecy is a quintessential example of Le Sidaner’s work. Painted in 1936, the painting dates from the latter portion of the artist’s career, when he began to emphasize color and light effects over drawing, leading to some of the most evocative works of his career. Annecy is a municipality in the Haute-Savoie area of the Rhône-Alpes region, located in the eastern part of France close to the Swiss border; Geneva is only some 20 miles from Annecy. The Annecy region is composed of several small towns and villages situated on Lake Annecy, the second-largest lake in France. Annecy itself is a picturesque medieval city located on the northern tip of the lake. Le Sidaner here describes a view over Annecy’s stately Canal du Vassé, which follows a serpentine course through the city, linking the Thiou River and Lake Annecy. As is typical for Le Sidaner, he has cropped the composition dramatically at the top, using the boughs of the trees that line the canal as a framing motif and focusing attention on the light that flickers off the surface of the water of the canal. Le Sidaner’s pointillist style diffuses light and specific detail, creating an evocation of intimacy and quietude. He has created a seemingly private space within a public space, a favorite device of the artist, who treasured private and intimate settings.