Complex Relationships: A Materials Study of Édouard Vuillard’s Interior, Mother and Sister of the Artist

Abed Haddad,Ana Martins,Diana Hartman

doi:10.3390/heritage4040162

Abstract

Édouard Vuillard (1868–1949) is well known for his small atmospheric paintings, often portraying his own home and family as the subject matter. Interior, Mother and Sister of the Artist (1893) underwent at least one restoration treatment before being acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1934. The painting was treated again in 1954, but no analysis was carried out to understand the artist’s methods and materials at that time. To better understand the choices of Vuillard in Interior, Mother and Sister of the Artist, a comprehensive suite of imaging and spectroscopic analyses was undertaken, including: XRR, UVF and IRR Photography, XRF, Raman spectroscopy and SERS, and µ-FTIR. Statistical analysis on the XRF data using MCR-ALS further revealed some of the intricacies of Vuillard’s technique and color choices, where a large number of pigments were used in designing this intimate composition, including lead white, zinc white, bone black, ochre, umber, vermilion, Geranium lake, red lead, ultramarine, Prussian blue, chrome yellow, chrome orange, zinc yellow, strontium yellow, cadmium yellow, and a chromium oxide green.

Highlights

IntroductionMother and Sister of the Artist (1893) is an iconic example of Édouard Vuillard’s (1868–1949) small compositions, which often show glimpses within the artist’s family home (Figure 1)
We demonstrate that same Multi Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) approach can be applied to a portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF) data set to decompose the dataset into a collection of “pure components” and their relative abundance
This technical study of Interior, Mother and Sister of the Artist (1893) shed light on the material choices and working methods used by Vuillard

Summary

Introduction

Mother and Sister of the Artist (1893) is an iconic example of Édouard Vuillard’s (1868–1949) small compositions, which often show glimpses within the artist’s family home (Figure 1). Vuillard is well known for capturing moments of every-day life in his distinctly intimate interior paintings, which often focus on his mother and sister [1]. In the late 18900 s Vuillard joined a group of artists called Les Nabis [2]. This group of young French artists, which included his friend and studio mate Pierre Bonnard, believed that art should fundamentally be decorative [3]. Vuillard explored this notion decorative with his use of patterning often seen in his depicted wallpaper and textiles, painted with dotted and patchwork brushstrokes. As part of the Nabis, he literally made his larger distemper paintings decorative by fitting them into the walls of apartments in addition to set designing for the Theatre de l’Oeuvre [3]

Methods

Results

Conclusion