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The Complete Works of Philippe Smit
by Andreas Narzt and Florence Castellani

Catalogue entry

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Photo: Studio Sebert; © FdDPS
Keywords
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Classification: Pastel
Theme: landscape
Medium: Pastel
Support: On cardboard
Year: 1945
PS 518
Printemps (Spring)
Alternate titles: Ballade à l'arc en ciel; Le printemps; Pastorale
1945
Pastel on cardboard
35 1/2 x 47 5/16 in. (90 x 120 cm)
Titled, signed and dated lower left: Printemps/ Philippe Smit 1945
On the back: a metal plate: Lottie Urban on the frame lower left.
Inventories
Inv. Lotty Urban-Leteneur, n.d. [ante 1953], s.n., private archives: no. [36]: p. 2, Pastels: Paysage avec des arbres fleuris, figure d'homme, râteau sur l'épaule et femme avec des fleurs.
Inv. Leteneur, n.d. [1977], n.p., s.n., private archives: no. [45]: p. [5], chambre de monsieur: Smit Philippe - 'Pastoral'/ Pastel, 110 x 140 [cm].
Exhibitions
Musée municipal, Noyers-sur-Serein, Yonne, France, Le Mystère Philippe Smit 1886 - 1948, April 01–November 30, 2000, as Le printemps.
Literature & Primary Sources
Philippe Smit. ALS to Nicolaas, Nann and Bé (Jeanne) Urban. Pau, n.d. [26 June 1942].
Niehaus, Kasper. Philippe Smit, unkown genius. Revised and edited by Marjorie Bell. Typescript, 1955, p. 24, as Pastorale.
Notes

"[…] J’ai essayé/ de commencer un grand tableau/ ballade à l’arc en ciel ou un Concert d’ange, pour m’evadér de toutes les choses douloureuses/ dont nous vivons depuis/ la guerre, parfois vous devez/ trouvez dans la nature une/ grande consolation, car comme/ dit notre cher Rollinat la nature/ ne rend heureux les innocent[s] et les sages, quelle profonde verite […]" [sic] (... I have tried to begin a large painting, a walk under the rainbow or an angels’ concert, to escape all the sad things we have been going through since the start of the war, sometimes you may find great comfort in nature because, as our dear Rollinat says, nature makes happy only the innocent and the wise, what a profound truth ...) (Philippe Smit 1942)

This letter tells us that the idea for this pastel was already born at the time of his stay in Pau during the war1. It was surely due to the unfavourable situation that it was not possible for him to execute on site this project, the achievement of which had to wait until the artist's return to Thoury-Ferrottes.


1. See Chronology 1940.

Record last updated June 9, 2017. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Narzt, Andreas and Castellani, Florence. "Printemps (Spring), 1945 (PS 518)." In The Complete Works of Philippe Smit. www.philippesmit.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=518 (accessed on December 11, 2024).