Virginie DEMONT BRETON (1859-1935) - Lot 52

Virginie DEMONT BRETON (1859-1935) Little girl peeling clementines Oil on panel signed lower right 33 x 24 cm Provenance: Former collection of Monsieur Emile Kaufmann, former president of the Société des Amateurs d'Art, and Madame Marcelle Keim, since left in the family. This artist's work deals mainly with themes linked to the daily lives of fishermen and their families, maternity and childhood. Her paintings have a social tone and a naturalist approach. The canvas "La Plage" (The Beach), 1883, acquired by the French State the same year, is now part of the Musée d'Orsay collection. Born into a family of painters (she was the daughter of the painter Jules Breton), she and her husband initiated the creation of the "Wissant School". President of the Union des Femmes Peintres (Union of Women Painters) between 1895 and 1901, Virginie Demont-Breton actively campaigned for the recognition of women in art and, in 1897, initiated their admission to the École des Beaux-arts and the Prix de Rome. An oil on canvas, Sous les orangers, depicting the same little girl peeling a mandarin orange under the trees, was sold (Sotheby's sale May 4, 2012, lot no. 5) for 28,526 euros (61.5 x 53.3 cm).