PIERRE EUGÈNE MONTÉZIN (French, 1874-1946)
Les Paons
Oil on canvas
36-1/2 x 29 inches (92.7 x 73.7 cm)
Signed lower right: Montezin

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF CAROLYN AND STARKE TAYLOR, DALLAS

PROVENANCE:
Galerie Hopkins-Thomas, Paris (label verso);
Private collection, Dallas, acquired from the above, 1989.

The former mayor of Dallas Starcke Taylor and his wife, Carolyn, built a sizeable collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings on their numerous trips to Paris during the 1980s. Displayed prominently on their living room wall was Pierre-Eugene Montézin's Les Paons, this exquisite work depicting a male and a female peacock on the banks of pond. Here, in the spirit of Claude Monet, Montézin features gradations of light, jewel-toned, flecked brushwork, and a setting reminiscent of Monet's home at Giverny. Les Paons is additionally noteworthy for its pristine condition, having maintained its vibrant coloration for decades without any restoration.

A French Impressionist, Montézin owed his aesthetic foundation to his father, a lace draftsman, who loved the countryside and took his son on regular outings throughout the Île-de-France, showing him the landscapes that had inspired earlier Impressionists like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.

Les Paons is a unique synthesis of Montézin's animal paintings and his Monet-esque pond scenes. As a follower of Monet, Montézin utlized a broken-stroke technique in his landscapes with ponds, which he depicted both from a wide vantage point - highlighting the cascading trees and strollers or picnickers bordering the pond - and up-close, zooming in on the pond's lily pads, reeds, and sun-dappled surface. In Les Paons, the light-filled pond serves as a lush backdrop for a foreground courtship ritual. Montézin ingeniously blends the male peacock's dazzling blue tail into the surrounding branches of the weeping willow, which forms a circular shape with his plumage on the left and the curving lower branch on the right. This circularity works symbolically, as well, linking the male with the brown female on the banks below and thus hinting at a successful union.


Alternate Artist Spellings: "Montezin, Pierre", "Montezin, Pierre Eugène"

Original canvas slighly loose on stretcher; completely stable paint film; under UV examination, no evidence of restoration. Framed Dimensions 47 X 39.5 Inches