Updated 05 March 2025
Currently not on display
Currently not on display
Procession
| Date | 1913 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on cardboard |
| Size（cm） | 67.8 x 101.5 |
| Inscriptions | Signed and dated lower right: Ch. Cottet 1913 |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | M309 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1959-0048 |
A distinctive culture and lifestyle has long flourished in the region of Brittany along the French coast of the English Channel. Cottet first visited the region in 1892, and it is apparent that the region's scenery and lifestyle had a decisive impact on his painting style. He later traveled into rural areas of Brittany where he depicted the melancholic emotions of the resigned lives of farmers and peasants through a dark palette. This work ably conveys one aspect of Cottet's style. Here he depicts the dark, deeply meditative expressions of a procession of young girls who carry a statue of the Virgin and Child on their shoulders. Cottet's works resemble those of Millet and early van Gogh in their expression of a special sensibility that unifies realism with heightened emotions. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 97)
Provenance
Purchased by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. October 1918 (Fr. 6,000) [see letter from Léonce Bénédit to Suzuki & Co., dated 10 October 1918, as “Procession à Plougastel”, in the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.
Exhibition History
- 1924
- XIVª Esposizione internazionale d'arte della città di Venezia, 0 1924 - 0 1924, cat. p. 185, no. 126
- 1989
- The French Modern Painting, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Miyakonojo City Museum, 15 April 1989 - 14 May 1989, cat. no. 22, repr.
- 2015
- [Prints and Drawings Exhibition]Lithographs and Etchings from Fin-de-Siècle France, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 17 March 2015 - 31 May 2015, cat. no. 30
- 2023
- 国立西洋美術館, The National Museum of Western Art, 18 March 2023 - 11 June 2023, cat. no. 96
Bibliography
- 1912
- Segard, A. Charles Cottet, Painter of Breton life and scene. The Studio. vol. 54, no. 226, Jan. 1912, p. 277, repr.
- 1924
- XIVª Esposizione internazionale d'arte della città di Venezia, 1924: Catalogo, 2nd ed., [Venezia, 1924], p. 183, cat. no. 126
- 1928
- Aubert, L. -F. Peintures de Charles Cottet. Paris, 1928, repr. p. 31.
- 1961
- Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-65.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 60, repr.
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 462.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 97, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 97, col. repr.
- 2018
- The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 309, col. repr.
- 2023
- La Bretagne source d'inspiration: regards de peintres français et japonais (exh. cat.). Hakamata, Hiroyo, ed. Tokyo, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, 2023, pp. 127, 211-212, cat. no. 96, col. repr.