Georges de FEURE (Paris, 1868 - 1943) The Pheasant Tempera on paper, mounted on canvas Monogrammed 'GDF' lower right Bears several exhibition labels on the reverse (Bending) Frameless The pheasant, tempera on paper, laid down on canvas, signed, by G. de Feure 21.26 x 31.89 in. 54.0 x 81.0 cm Provenance: Gérard Lévy Collection ; Then by descent Exhibitions: Esthètes et Magiciens, Symbolistes des collections parisiennes, Paris, Musée Galliera, December 1970 - January 1971, cat. no. 50: "Etude de Papier Peint" [label on reverse]. Georges de Feure, 1868-1943, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, 26 November 1993 - 13 February 1994, cat. no. 55: "Le Faisan: projet de papier peint (The Pheasant: project for wallpaper)", reproduced p. 66 and 85 [label on reverse]. Georges de Feure, du symbolisme à l'art nouveau (1890-1905), Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Musée Départemental Maurice Denis - "Le Prieuré", 11 March - 5 June 1995 ; Gingins (Suisse), Fondation Neumann, 15 June - 3 September 1995, cat. no. 97 : "Le Faisan : projet de papier peint", reproduced p. 87 [label on reverse] Symbolism in Europe, Takamatsu (Japan), Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, 1 November - 8 December 1996; Tokyo (Japan), Bunkamura Museum of Fine Arts, 14 December 1996 - 9 February 1997; Himeji (Japan), Municipal Museum, 15 February - 30 March 1997, cat. no. 29: "Le Faisan: projet de papier peint" reproduced p. 62 [Japanese version]; p. 66 [French version]. Bibliography: Millman, Ian, Georges de Feure, Maître du Symbolisme et de l'Art Nouveau, Paris, ACR Edition, 1992, reproduced p. 163: "Le Faisan: projet de papier peint". Although Georges de Feure was a Symbolist painter, largely inspired by Baudelaire, who made the femme fatale his favourite subject, especially when he took part in the Salon de la Rose+Croix in 1893 and 1894, he was also an important figure in Art Nouveau as a poster artist and designer of furniture and decorative objects such as fans and tapestries. So when the famous art dealer Siegfried Bing set up his own pavilion called "L'Art Nouveau Bing" at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, he quite naturally entrusted Georges de Feure with the decoration of the façade, as well as the design of two interiors for the same pavilion. His work was praised by the critics, who praised its delicacy and feminine grace, and saw it as the quintessence of French art. While the artist's art nouveau furniture draws its sources from the Louis XVI period, his designs for fabrics and wallpapers are above all influenced by Japanese art. For both, he was indebted above all to Bing: with the former, he was putting into practice his boss's philosophy that the designer should be totally immersed in the old French tradition; with the latter, he had found food for thought in artistic Japan, which offered a wide range of examples to Western artists. Here, combining Japanese inspiration with a degree of abstraction, our spectacular pheasant drowned in lush vegetation seems to offer Georges de Feure the opportunity to create elegant decorative combinations by playing with a complementary colour scheme of lilac mauve, pale grey-blue and several shades of yellow and ochre. Georges de FEURE (Paris, 1868 - 1943) 54.0 x 81.0 cm Although Georges de Feure was a Symbolist painter, largely inspired by Baudelaire, who made the femme fatale his favourite subject, particularly when he exhibited at the Salon de la Rose+Croix in 1893 and 1894, he was also an important figure in the Art Nouveau movement as a poster artist and designer of furniture and decorative objects such as fans and tapestries. So when the famous art dealer Siegfried Bing set up his own pavilion called "L'Art Nouveau Bing" at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, he quite naturally entrusted Georges de Feure with the decoration of the façade, as well as the design of two interiors for the same pavilion. His work was praised by the critics, who praised its delicacy and feminine grace, and saw it as the quintessence of French art. While the artist's art nouveau furniture draws its sources from the Louis XVI period, his designs for fabrics and wallpapers are above all influenced by Japanese art. For both, he was indebted above all to Bing: with the former, he was putting into practice his boss's philosophy that the designer should be totally immersed in the old French tradition; with the latter, he had found food for thought in artistic Japan, which offered a wide range of examples to Western artists. Here, combining Japanese inspiration with a degree of abstraction, our spectacular pheasant drowned in lush vegetation seems to offer Georges de Feure the opportunity to create elegant decorative combinations by playing with a complementary colour scheme of lilac mauve, pale grey-blue and several shades of yellow and ochre.