James Desvarreux-Larpenteur, Pollarded Willow Over the River, Signed Oil on Canvas, Dated 1921, Unframed

The pollarded willow leans out from the right bank, the branches springing in a crown from the knot at the top of the trunk, and the still water below carries its shadow and little else. Behind the reeds a strip of gold cuts across the middle of the canvas.

Oil on canvas, unlined, 15 x 18 inches (38 x 46 cm), unframed. Signed J. Desvarreux lower left, inscribed Charmy 1921 on the reverse. French.

The field beyond the reeds is laid in long horizontal strokes of gold and orange, the lines of a crop already cut, and a single small figure stands at its edge, far off and no more than three strokes. Red roofs show in the violet of the far hillside. The handling changes with the subject. The new shoots spring red from the cut crown before they green, the trunk is modelled in a heavy paste that follows the twist of the wood, the sky is thin enough that the weave counts through, and the near bank is scribbled in fast strokes of pink, rust and pure red.

The canvas has never been relined and remains on its stretcher. It comes from the second and final studio sale of the artist, held at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris on 10 May 1971, and the printed sale notice is still pinned to the reverse.