Edouard Vuillard
Sacha Guitry in his Dressing Room1911

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oil painting of three figures in a striped interior — one seen from behind in a wicker chair, flanked by a seated older man and a woman at a vanity, with loose impressionistic brushwork

Artist or Maker: Edouard Vuillard
France, Cuiseaux, 1868-1940
Title: Sacha Guitry in his Dressing Room
Date Made: 1911
Medium: Pastel on paper laid down on board
Dimensions: 29 × 37 7/8 in. (73.66 × 96.2 cm) Framed: 35 × 44 × 2 in. (88.9 × 111.76 × 5.08 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of A. Jerrold Perenchio
Accession Number: M.2025.64.6
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: This resplendent portrait of actor and playwright Alexandre “Sacha” Guitry (1885−1957) is a spatially complex testament both to the sitter’s craft and the artist’s understanding of it. The composition vibrates with color, including the blue-striped walls, magenta-framed mirror, and Guitry’s own corpulent green-and-pink figure with outrageously heavy makeup. This artifact of performing—a painted face—signals the actor’s craft, and also reinforces the artist’s approach: a literal painting of a face. The arrangement of the picture—brilliantly imagined through mirrors and lights—showcases Vuillard’s interest in portraiture and the patterned interior, as well as his profound connection to the art of stagecraft: its structure harnesses the same illusionistic tools deployed every night in darkened theaters across Paris, while simultaneously acknowledging the viewer as part of that interplay.

Édouard Vuillard is perhaps best known for his quiet, unassuming character and as a founding member of the Nabis, a group of artists including Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, and Ker-Xavier Roussel who joined together around 1888 to explore the symbolic nature of art. Vuillard’s own practice was influenced by the work of his seamstress mother; being surrounded by textile patterning, he used it to great effect, creating tapestry-like settings and images reflecting the domestic world. He also drew on the currents underlying contemporary avant-garde theater, particularly the naturalism and understated symbolism found in the plays of Maurice Maeterlinck and Henrik Ibsen. Vuillard’s link with the theater was not just one of audience and admirer but one of participant. He was deeply involved with his childhood friend Lugné-Poe’s Théâtre de l’Oeuvre during the 1890s, as a program and set designer, as well as a set painter. While his work in the theater ceased by the turn of the century, his engagement with the theater community continued throughout his life. In 1911, Guitry commissioned Vuillard to create portraits of his wife, the actress Charlotte Lysès (Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi), and himself, following the success of his play Le Veilleur de Nuit. The result is this charming homage to the “boulevard theater.”

2024
Provenance: The artist, sold March 1912 to; Sacha Guitry (1885–1957) and Charlotte Lysès (1907–1915), Paris, to 1957. Pierre (1913–2008) and Huguette (c. 1914–1999) Bères, Paris (sale, New York, Parke Bernet Galleries, 26 October 1960, lot 77, to);(1) Anne Burnett Tandy (1900–1980), Fort Worth, TX (sale, New York, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 5 November 1981, lot 211). Stanley J. Seeger Jr. (1930–2011), Sutton Place, Guilford, England;(2) Private Collection (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 18 November 1986, lot 29, to);(3) Private Collection, Boston. (Sale, New York, Christie’s, 12 May 1988, lot 109).(4) “American Collector” (sale, New York, Christie’s, 16 May 1990, lot 123). [Aoyama Gallery, Tokyo]. Private Collection (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 13 May 1998, lot 37, to); Sir Sean Connery (1930–2020) (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 7 November 2006, lot 34, to); A. J. Perenchio (1930–2017), Los Angeles, gifted 2025 to; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Footnotes
(1) It is unknown if the painting belonged to both Pierre and Huguette Bères in 1960. The couple married in 1936, separated in 1949, and later divorced in 1952. Sotheby’s is uncertain if one or both consigned the painting to the 1960 Parke Bernet auction (email to Patricia Teter-Schneider, 17 June 2015). Both were well-known dealers—Pierre for his antique-book business and Huguette for being a dealer in Japanese prints and Impressionist and modern art.
(2) Seeger was an American whose family had built a timber and oil empire, and who lived most of his life in Britain. While mostly reclusive, he was known for a few high-profile transactions, including the acquisition of the Sutton Place estate from J. Paul Getty in 1980, and the sale of eighty-eight Picassos at Sotheby’s in 1993. See William Grimes, “Stanley Seeger, Who Collected, but Didn’t Discuss, Art, Dies at 81,” The New York Times, 14 July 2011.
(3) Sotheby’s, New York, 18 November 1986 sale results lists this lot as sold for US $220,000, however Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval list the lot as bought-in in their 2003 Vuillard catalogue, vol. 2, p. 1121, no. IX-173, which seems to be an error.
(4) Christie’s, New York, 12 May 1988 sale results lists this lot as sold for US $418,000, however Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval list the lot as bought-in in their 2003 Vuillard catalogue, vol. 2, p. 1121, no. IX-173, which seems to be an error.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, ed. Impressionist and Modern Art: The A. Jerrold Perenchio Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016.
Copyright: © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris, photo © Fredrik Nilsen

Related Unframed

Edouard Vuillard
Sacha Guitry in his Dressing Room1911

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Edouard Vuillard
France, Cuiseaux, 1868-1940
Title: Sacha Guitry in his Dressing Room
Date Made: 1911
Medium: Pastel on paper laid down on board
Dimensions: 29 × 37 7/8 in. (73.66 × 96.2 cm) Framed: 35 × 44 × 2 in. (88.9 × 111.76 × 5.08 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of A. Jerrold Perenchio
Accession Number: M.2025.64.6
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: This resplendent portrait of actor and playwright Alexandre “Sacha” Guitry (1885−1957) is a spatially complex testament both to the sitter’s craft and the artist’s understanding of it. The composition vibrates with color, including the blue-striped walls, magenta-framed mirror, and Guitry’s own corpulent green-and-pink figure with outrageously heavy makeup. This artifact of performing—a painted face—signals the actor’s craft, and also reinforces the artist’s approach: a literal painting of a face. The arrangement of the picture—brilliantly imagined through mirrors and lights—showcases Vuillard’s interest in portraiture and the patterned interior, as well as his profound connection to the art of stagecraft: its structure harnesses the same illusionistic tools deployed every night in darkened theaters across Paris, while simultaneously acknowledging the viewer as part of that interplay.

Édouard Vuillard is perhaps best known for his quiet, unassuming character and as a founding member of the Nabis, a group of artists including Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, and Ker-Xavier Roussel who joined together around 1888 to explore the symbolic nature of art. Vuillard’s own practice was influenced by the work of his seamstress mother; being surrounded by textile patterning, he used it to great effect, creating tapestry-like settings and images reflecting the domestic world. He also drew on the currents underlying contemporary avant-garde theater, particularly the naturalism and understated symbolism found in the plays of Maurice Maeterlinck and Henrik Ibsen. Vuillard’s link with the theater was not just one of audience and admirer but one of participant. He was deeply involved with his childhood friend Lugné-Poe’s Théâtre de l’Oeuvre during the 1890s, as a program and set designer, as well as a set painter. While his work in the theater ceased by the turn of the century, his engagement with the theater community continued throughout his life. In 1911, Guitry commissioned Vuillard to create portraits of his wife, the actress Charlotte Lysès (Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi), and himself, following the success of his play Le Veilleur de Nuit. The result is this charming homage to the “boulevard theater.”

2024
Provenance: The artist, sold March 1912 to; Sacha Guitry (1885–1957) and Charlotte Lysès (1907–1915), Paris, to 1957. Pierre (1913–2008) and Huguette (c. 1914–1999) Bères, Paris (sale, New York, Parke Bernet Galleries, 26 October 1960, lot 77, to);(1) Anne Burnett Tandy (1900–1980), Fort Worth, TX (sale, New York, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 5 November 1981, lot 211). Stanley J. Seeger Jr. (1930–2011), Sutton Place, Guilford, England;(2) Private Collection (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 18 November 1986, lot 29, to);(3) Private Collection, Boston. (Sale, New York, Christie’s, 12 May 1988, lot 109).(4) “American Collector” (sale, New York, Christie’s, 16 May 1990, lot 123). [Aoyama Gallery, Tokyo]. Private Collection (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 13 May 1998, lot 37, to); Sir Sean Connery (1930–2020) (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 7 November 2006, lot 34, to); A. J. Perenchio (1930–2017), Los Angeles, gifted 2025 to; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Footnotes
(1) It is unknown if the painting belonged to both Pierre and Huguette Bères in 1960. The couple married in 1936, separated in 1949, and later divorced in 1952. Sotheby’s is uncertain if one or both consigned the painting to the 1960 Parke Bernet auction (email to Patricia Teter-Schneider, 17 June 2015). Both were well-known dealers—Pierre for his antique-book business and Huguette for being a dealer in Japanese prints and Impressionist and modern art.
(2) Seeger was an American whose family had built a timber and oil empire, and who lived most of his life in Britain. While mostly reclusive, he was known for a few high-profile transactions, including the acquisition of the Sutton Place estate from J. Paul Getty in 1980, and the sale of eighty-eight Picassos at Sotheby’s in 1993. See William Grimes, “Stanley Seeger, Who Collected, but Didn’t Discuss, Art, Dies at 81,” The New York Times, 14 July 2011.
(3) Sotheby’s, New York, 18 November 1986 sale results lists this lot as sold for US $220,000, however Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval list the lot as bought-in in their 2003 Vuillard catalogue, vol. 2, p. 1121, no. IX-173, which seems to be an error.
(4) Christie’s, New York, 12 May 1988 sale results lists this lot as sold for US $418,000, however Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval list the lot as bought-in in their 2003 Vuillard catalogue, vol. 2, p. 1121, no. IX-173, which seems to be an error.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, ed. Impressionist and Modern Art: The A. Jerrold Perenchio Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016.
Copyright: © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris, photo © Fredrik Nilsen

Related Unframed

A. Jerrold Perenchio Announces Bequest of His Impressionist and Modern Art Collection to LACMA

November 6, 2014
Linda Theung