Lill Tschudi: 1944

Sooner than expected the question of attribution was solved by my American collecting friend and print expert Tom Clemens in Boston who's friend Ben Weiss, curator of Boston Museum of Arts, identified the print by a copy in New-York Metropolitan Museum of Art database in the Garfield collection. 

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/835184

Its title, to me and my special collection, is adding an extra layer of interest and emotion to her work: 

"Neue Flüchtlinge kommen ins Lager". 

New, Jewish, refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1944, seeking and finding shelter, arriving in Switzerland. It also solves the question which side of the paper is front and besides gives insight in her actual printing technique and her use of materials. 

Unexpectedly it is also of a frightening actuality.  

During WW-II Switzerland sheltered some 300.000 mostly Jewish refugees, but controversially also send many back at its frontiers following the "all life boats are full" principle. A frightening and haunting resemblance and food-for-thought and contemplation to today's (European) migratory problems. 

These photo's borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, non commercial and academic use only. 

Unknown Lill Tschudi ?

 "Unbekannte" Lill Tschudi ?

Last summer this print popped up in an internet auction. It had stayed unrecognised and unwanted by any impulsive buyer, serious collector or commercial dealer: there's no signature. No signature, no attribution, no interest, no (commercial) value ? 

But then: who needs a signature with something this good ? Finally cataloging last year's collection acquisitions it was suggested (thank you Tom) it might be by the hand of Swiss artist Lill Tschudi (1911-2004) who was trained in London's Slate school and created over 300 often iconic prints. A second example of this print however was not yet found. 

It could be the reverse side is the correct side: both sides are of almost identical quality: the ink/paint through and through the fabric. Maybe another technical clue ? The (to me) illegible and faint (carved) lettering below is reversed in the above version of the picture. 

Looking for clues it seems very likely it is indeed (must be) by her hand: Style, Perspective and Colours are very similar to some (choice) examples found in the Internet.  What she depicted may be an orphanage or convent's dining room (although the women seem to wear no caps or robes of any religious sort). 

Two more of my favourite Lill Tschudi prints (who was a student of Claude Flight in London and Fernand Léger in Paris): "women(!) students in the nude drawing class" and b"athing women". 

Since prints by Lill Tschudi normally would be financially out of reach this may have been the only chance of ever being able to represent this printmaker in my special collection:

www.dashausderfrau.nl. 

He or she, stumbling over this posting, who knows more: all information is very welcomed. 

All other pictures borrowed freely from the internet for friendly, non commercial and academic use only. 

Fernand Lambert 2: La Laitière

 La Laitière

Recently this large drawing was discovered and rescued after being dismissed by its former owners. I think, as best as I can, the signature may read "Fernand Lambert 1903". But it could also be Fernande (she) and/or Cambier ........  Benezit Lexicon does not give any other serious candidates besides the painter Fernand Lambert (before post) who was born in Lyon but studied and had a career in Paris. 

It is an exact copy of Jean Baptiste Greuze's (1725-1805) painting of "La Laitière" (the milkmaid). The painting is since 1900 officially part of the Louvre collection with its pendant painting "La Cruche Cassée" (the broken pitcher). We know Greuze's wife Anne-Gabrielle modelled for the milkmaid. They later divorced. Both paintings have deeper layers of symbolic meaning (virginity, virtue, status etc..).  

At least 2 engraved versions of "La Laitière" are known: by Greuze's contemporary Jean Charles Levasseur (1734-1816), which is a mirrored version, and a 1901 "Heliogravure" published by Braun Clement & Cie for "Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne". 

My suggestion is this drawing may have been an academic exercise, by Fernand Lambert while studying in Paris under Bougeareau and when the painting was not that long in the Louvre. 

I also think it far too accurate and professional to be created by an amateur. 

Any other suggestions or knowledge concerning the history of this milkmaid is very welcomed. 

PS: Milkmaids were often used as models in paintings because of their fair and unscarred skin: in times of small pocks and tuberculosis many milkmaids had built an immunity to the microbes causing these wide spread and devastating diseases. The fair skin of milkmaids helped clever physicians to understand better the cause and paths of the disease and ultimately leading to the development of vaccines, inoculations, prevention, medication and cure. For which we should be thankful instead of suspicious. 

Fernand Lambert 1

 Fernand Alexis Lambert (1868-1934/35)

was a not very well known French landscape painter and critic. He was born in Lyon, studied in Paris under Bougereau and is known by half a dozen really nice (post)-impressionist landscapes and river scenes (Rhone in Lyon nd Seine in Paris). He has only a few lines in Benezit, artists lexicon and the pictures of his works are scratched together from the Internet. 

If he is identical with the maker of a drawing after the famous painting "La Laitière" (the milkmaid) by Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) in the Louvre remains to be researched.

See next posting !