Paul Edmund Graf (Swedish 1866-1903) Attributed

Artist: Paul Edmund Graf (1866-1903) Attributed.
Title: Study for Bathing Boys, Skagen Beach (1892).
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Framed Size: Height 68.5 cm x Width 78.5 cm x Depth 3.5 cm.
Image Size: Height 49.5 cm x Width 58.5 cm.
Condition: This painting is in good condition and has been placed onto the stretcher at a later date. This practice is consistent with that of Graf. Framed in a water-gilt cassetta frame.
Provenance: Private Collection of a Boutique Hotelier, Blue Mountains NSW Australia. The collection consisted of select European and Australian works.

About: Graf began his studies at the Royal Academy in Stockholm but soon found himself immersed in the Parisian art scene. In 1885, he moved to France and worked under Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) at the École des Beaux Arts.

Bonnat was a superb portraitist in the classical style and his works have been compared by critics to several of the old masters, including Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) and Titian (c.1488/90-1576).  Bonnat was around 52 when he met Graf and it’s interesting to consider how he approached his tuition at a time when Impressionism was at its peak. Despite his classical leanings, Bonnat also supported the work of independent artists such as Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet, Graf had the dual benefit of a classical tutor plus access to some of Paris’ most exciting names.

Graf's own career was cut short at the age of 37 but in that brief time, he achieved so much, including study trips to Germany, France, North Africa and America. Today, he is represented in several museums including the National Museum in Stockholm. Graf’s auction highlight was achieved at Sotheby's, in 1993 at £35,240 for The Boating Pond.

This painting is consistent with the works of the Scandinavian artist group known as the Skagen painters, most notably the oeuvre of Peder Kroyer. The larger scale version of this work once traded by the title “Badende Dredge” is also the title of a prominent work by Kroyer.

The painting is an En plein air study, that would have been upscaled in the studio for practical reasons and most likely to satisfy a specific commission, this was a practice that Edward Manet was famous for. Graf would have executed smaller studies, consistent with this work's approximate dimensions in the field. He would then complete a larger and more substantial work that would generally be more attentive to elements of transparency and colour as well as the final variation of the composition.

The painting has evidence of being pinned before being stretched onto bars at a later date probably 1950’s along with the remnants of a signature lower right verso.

Much the same as drawings, Plein air studies often contain a sense of energy and spontaneity as the artist scrambles to capture texture, colour, figure and light in real-time and would ultimately produce a spontaneous but aesthetically raw impression of the scene. This is an attribute of impressionism that is revered by contemporary critique and is complementary to this painting and its painterly manner.