Beschreibung:

THE COLLECTION OF SIR WARWICK & LADY FAIRFAX EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917) Cheval au bord de la mare signed 'Degas' (lower left) pastel on paper laid on board 27.1 x 36.1cm (10 11/16 x 14 3/16in). Executed circa 1892 Fußnoten The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Galerie Brame & Lorençeau. Provenance Julius Stern Collection. Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, no. 8376 (acquired from the above on 19 December 1906). Sir Louis Fergusson Collection, UK (acquired from the above on 10 June 1912). The Leicester Galleries, London (possibly acquired from the above). Sir Warwick & Lady Fairfax Collection, Sydney (acquired from the above by December 1948). Thence by descent to the present owners. Exhibited (Possibly) Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, 1893. London, The Leicester Galleries, Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels and Etchings by Edgar Degas January 1922. London, The Leicester Galleries, Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Prints, The Collection of Sir Louis Fergusson, K.C.V.O., September 1948, no. 48. Literature M. Rebatet, Degas, Paris, 1944 (illustrated p. 106; titled 'Paysage'). P. A. Lesmoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, Vol. II, Paris, 1946, no. 631 (illustrated p. 357). The collection of Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax represents a significant chapter in Australian twentieth century history, the Fairfaxes being as they were one of the country's most prominent families. Fairwater, their nineteenth century harbour-side home that housed their vast art collection, became the most valuable property ever sold in Australia when it came to the market following Lady Fairfax's death in 2017. Until that time Fairwater had become a symbol of Sydney's social scene, a society destination where parties were held amongst artworks by Rodin, Chagall, Degas and Epstein. One party, for instance, was held to celebrate the opening of the Sydney Opera House in 1973 where the 800-strong guest list included names like Liberace, Rudolf Nureyev and Rex Harrison. With Sir Warwick Fairfax at the centre of the dynasty's seat, Fairwater truly became the focal point of the family's story. The young Warwick took over the family publishing business following the death of his father Sir James in 1930, who had become one of Australia's most prominent figures after leading and growing a business that encompassed The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review – many of the country's top news publications. The family's influence was inestimable. During Warwick's tenure as head of the family business he took over the influential architecture, design and interiors review The Home. It was at this time that he really started to engage with collecting and decorating the family home at Fairwater. The founder of The Home, Ure Smith, became a close advisor and he introduced Warwick to a number of important figures in the art world who would go on to shape Warwick's collection. The combination of this new milieu and Warwick's marriage to his second wife Hanne, a Danish ballerina who loved the arts, galvanised the businessman's interest in collecting. Regular trips to Europe during the 1940s resulted in acquisitions from renowned galleries such as The Leicester Galleries, London, where Warwick purchased works by Marie Laurencin Edgar Degas and Maurice Utrillo It was back in Sydney, however, and during his third and final marriage to Mary that the collection came to encompass a group of exceptional bronzes by Rodin, an artist beloved of both Warwick and Mary. Robert Haines, the Director of the David Jones' Gallery in Sydney, introduced the Fairfaxes to Rodin in a number of ground-breaking exhibitions during the 1960s, and they went on to amass a collection of five pieces all relating to one of Rodin's defining subjects: the Burghers of Calais. The most prominent work amongst this group was the monumental figure of Pierre de Wissant, an unforgettable presence in the entrance hall of Fairwater (and, for a time, in the entrance hall of th