132. Charles Milcendeau, Making Butter, Brittany Interior
| Artist | Charles Milcendeau, French, Soullans, Vendée 1872–Soullans, Vendée 1919 |
| Title, Date | Making Butter, Brittany Interior (La fabrication du beurre, intérieur breton), 1898 |
| Medium | Charcoal |
| Dimensions | 15 1/4 × 19 1/4 in. (38.7 × 48.9 cm) |
| Inscriptions + Marks | Lower left: Ch. Milcendeau / 98 |
| Provenance | Family of the artist; [Galerie Sagot–Le Garrec, Paris]; [Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 1928]; Armand Dayot, 1851–1934, Paris. Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Ader, Paris, May 9, 1955, no. 12. [Possibly (Galerie André Pacitti, Paris)]. Dr. Aubrun, Paris; [Jane Roberts Fine Arts, Paris, until 2001; to Weisberg]; Yvonne and Gabriel Weisberg, Minneapolis |
| Exhibition History | "Exposition rétrospective Charles Milcendeau 1872–1919: Peintures, dessins, gouaches, pastels, aquarelles," Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, February 13–28, 1928; "Expanding the Boundaries: Selected Drawings from the Yvonne and Gabriel P. Weisberg Collection," Mia (2008) and Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, Ind. (2010); "Milcendeau, le maître des regards," Historial de la Vendée, Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne, France, 2012; "Reflections on Reality: Drawings and Paintings from the Weisberg Collection," Mia, 2022–23 |
| References | Lisa Dickinson Michaux with Gabriel P. Weisberg, "Expanding the Boundaries: Selected Drawings from the Yvonne and Gabriel P. Weisberg Collection" (exh. cat.), Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Minneapolis, 2008), pp. 62–63, fig. 36; Christophe Vital, ed., "Charles Milcendeau 1872–1919: Sa vie, son oeuvre" (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2012), pp. 18–19, 289, no. 7, ill. |
| Credit Line | Promised gift of Gabriel P. and Yvonne M.L. Weisberg, Minneapolis |
In this highly finished drawing, Charles Milcendeau gave his audiences an insight into peasant life. Three figures of different ages—perhaps three generations—sit in front of a hearth. While one woman churns butter in a tall ceramic jar, another has her hands on her lap. In the right foreground, a third person works something in a large bowl. The space is likely the only room in the home, the place where all indoor activities take place. Next to the fireplace we glimpse the farm animals’ quarters. The door leading to the stable probably stays open to let the animals’ body heat help warm the room. The rustic simplicity of the setting aligns with Milcendeau’s desire to maintain the realist tradition, continuing the work of his earlier compatriots François Bonvin (cat. nos. 25–31) and Théodule Ribot (cat. nos. 161–167).
Milcendeau handled his charcoal with remarkable sensitivity. One of the best known of his black-and-white drawings, this sheet was owned by a leading Parisian dealer in prints and drawings, Edmond Sagot. It also appeared at a Milcendeau exhibition at the Galeries Georges Petit in 1928 (fig. 1). It then belonged to Armand Dayot, a Breton art historian, publisher, and politician who founded the journal L’Art et les Artistes in 1905. This provenance indicates that the artist enjoyed considerable attention in the years after his death.
GPW