637

Br. 1990: 641 | CL: 505
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Arles, Sunday, 8 or Monday, 9 July 1888
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1. In letter 595 Van Gogh had suggested exhibiting some of his Arles paintings in Tanguy’s window.
2. From what follows it appears that this was a study of a bank of the Seine in Asnières. If Tanguy did indeed have the work in his possession, it must have been sold before his death since there was no view of the river in Asnières in the Tanguy sale in 1894, nor does it appear on the list of works returned to Jo van Gogh-Bonger (Van Gogh Museum, Documentation). In the light of the subject and provenance, the following works are candidates: The Seine with moored boats (F 300 / JH 1275) and Bank of the Seine with a boat (F 353 / JH 1271). Cf. also letter 572, n. 5.
a. Read: ‘discuter’.
3. Van Gogh had locked horns with Madame Tanguy before; see letter 571.
4. Van Gogh had had paint from both firms not long before; see letters 634 and 635.
5. The art dealer Siegfried Bing had run a gallery for Chinese and Japanese art at 19 rue Chauchat, Paris, since 1878. In the 1880s he opened branches that traded for varying lengths of time at 22 rue de Provence (adjoining rue Chauchat), 13 rue Bleue (opened in 1881) and 19 rue de la Paix (closed in 1886). In the summer of 1884 he established the firm of S. Bing et Cie, with himself as the major shareholder. See exhib. cat. Richmond 1986 and exhib. cat. Amsterdam 2004-1.
Van Gogh refers on several occasions to his ‘stock’ at Bing’s: prints that he had set aside to buy for his own collection, use as an exchange or sell. It is not clear what the business arrangement with Bing was. Van Gogh himself says here (and in letter 640) that he sometimes sent Bing clients and got a discount in return.
b. Read: ‘c’est ce que je dois à Bing’.
6. See letter 625 for this consignment: They were three large drawings: Farmhouse (F 1478 / JH 1444 [2625]), Haystacks (F 1425 / JH 1441 [2622]) and The harvest (F 1483 / JH 1439 [2620]), which measure 39 x 53.5 cm, 48 x 60 cm and 50 x 62 cm respectively.
[2625] [2622] [2620]
7. These were probably The rock of Montmajour with pine trees (F 1447 / JH 1503 [2665]) at 49 x 60 cm and Olive trees, Montmajour (F - / JH add. 3 [2324]) at 48 x 60 cm. Van Gogh did three more and sent all five drawings to Theo by post soon afterwards (see letter 639).
[2665] [2324]
8. Van Gogh could also have meant ‘grey, green and blue’.
c. Read: ‘séjourne’.
9. See for this quotation from Voltaire’s Candide: letter 568, n. 3.
10. The Exposition historique de l’art et de la gravure au Japon, which ran from 28 May 1888 in Bing’s gallery at 22 rue de Provence. See exhib. cat. Richmond 1986, pp. 21 (fig. 7) and 28. In May 1888 Bing started publishing the magazine Le Japon Artistique. Documents d’Art et d’Industrie, which appeared monthly until 1891. Each issue contained a lead article, detailed illustrations, some in colour, and descriptions of works of art, many of them from Bing’s collection.
Van Gogh may have read about the magazine and the exhibition in the July issue of La Revue Indépendante. Félix Fénéon reviewed the first issue of Le Japon Artistique and wrote about the exhibition: ‘A marvellous collection of a hundred and sixty engravings on Bing’s walls’ (Une merveilleuse collection de cent soixante gravures aux murs de Bing). See La Revue Indépendante (July 1888), no. 21 (vol. 8), pp. 148-149, 154-156. In September 1888 Theo sent Vincent several issues of Le Japon Artistique; see letter 686, n. 11.
11. See for Loti’s Madame Chrysanthème: letter 628, n. 20.
12. For Cassagne’s Guide de l’alphabet du dessin see letter 214, n. 2. Van Gogh had mentioned it again in letter 630.
13. See letter 639 for this series of five drawings.
14. In mid-August Van Gogh gave Milliet 36 studies to take to Paris; see letter 660, n. 1.
15. Van Gogh is probably referring here to the mediation of Gauguin’s friend Schuffenecker in the possible purchase of Gauguin’s painting Negresses talking by the banker’s wife Mrs Pouzin, to whom Schuffenecker gave painting lessons. See Correspondance Gauguin, pp. 488-489 (nn. 260, 262). Gauguin had told Theo that he was counting on this sale to enable him to go to Arles (see letter 635, n. 3). In the end, though, Mrs Pouzin did not buy the painting, which Theo had on consignment. Cf. letter 627, n. 6.
16. In letter 676 Van Gogh mentions a man called Lévy, who was one of Bing’s branch managers. This is probably who he means here. This branch manager is mentioned again in letters 640, 642 and 686. Lévy stood in for Bing in his absence. The collector Raymond Koechlin wrote about his first visit to the gallery in 1890: ‘Bing was unwell when I called at rue de Provence, and I was received by Mr Lévy or ‘Father Lévy’, as he was affectionately known’. See Max Put, Plunder and Pleasure. Japanese Art in the West, 1863-1930. Leiden 2000, p. 79.
It may be Nephtalie Lévy; he and Daniel Dubuffet together took over the management in December 1892 when Maison Bing became Dubuffet & Cie (Ancienne Maison Bing et Cie). See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 2004-1, p. 26.
17. Toulouse-Lautrec had done illustrations for the article ‘L’Été à Paris’ by Emile Michelet, published in Paris Illustré 6 (7 July 1888), 3rd series, no. 27, pp. 425-427; they were: The laundress, The omnibus company trace-horse, Horsemen riding in the Bois de Boulogne and First communion day. Ill. 433 [433], 2186 [2186], 2187 [2187], 2188 [2188].

[433] [2186] [2187] [2188]