French paintings from the MolyneuxFrench paintings from the Molyneuxcollection [exhibition] June 24-collection [exhibition] June 24-September 7, 1952September 7, 1952

Author

Molyneux, Edward H

Date

1952

Publisher

The Museum of Modern Art

Exhibition URL

www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3288

The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—

from our founding in 1929 to the present—is

available online. It includes exhibition catalogues,

primary documents, installation views, and an

index of participating artists.

© 2017 The Museum of Modern ArtMoMA

French Paintings from

the Molyneux Collection

MoMA

LIBRARYMuseum of Modern Art

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French Paintings from

the Molyneux Collection

June 25 - September 7, 1952

THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

NEW YORK

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TRUSTEES OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

JOHN HAY WHITNEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD; HENRY ALLEN

AIOE, 1ST VICE-CHAIRMAN; PHILIP L. GOODWIN, 2ND VICE-

CHAIRMAN; NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER, PRESIDENT; MRS. DAVID

M. LEVY, 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT; ALFRED H. BARR, JR., MRS.

ROBERT WOODS BLISS, WILLIAM A. M. BURDEN, STEPHEN C.

CLARK, RENE d'hARNONCOURT, MRS. EDSEL B. FORD, A. CONGER

GOODYEAR, MRS. SIMON GUGGENHEIM, WALLACE K. HARRISON,

JAMES W. HUSTED, MRS. ALBERT I). LASKER, MRS. HENRY R.

LUCE, RANALD H. MACDONALD, MRS. G. MACCULLOCH MILLER,

WILLIAM S. PALEY, MRS. E. B. PARKINSON, MRS. CHARLES S.

PAYSON, ANDREW CARNDUFF RITCHIE, DAVID ROCKEFELLER,

BEARDSLEY RUML, JOHN L. SENIOR, JR., JAMES THRALL SOBY,

EDWARD M. M. WARBURG, MONROE WHEELER

HONORARY TRUSTEES

FREDERIC CLAY BARTLETT, AIRS. W. MURRAY CRANE, DUNCAN

PHILLIPS, PAUL J. SACHS, MRS. JOHN S. SHEPPARD

this spring captain molyneux's distinguished col

lection of paintings was shown in the National Gallery of

Art, Washington, D. C. The exhibition there was extra

ordinarily popular and many New Yorkers expressed a

wish to see it here. Captain Molyneux was approached and

graciously consented to our request to show his paintings

during the summer in the Museum of Modern Art.

On behalf of the President and Trustees of the Museum

of Modern Art I wish to thank him for his kindness in mak

ing his collection available to a wider public. Chosen with

exquisite care, it clearly proves that the quality of a paint

ing is not dependent upon its size. Captain Molyneux's

paintings are of a scale particularly appropriate for an

apartment. I hope this demonstration of fitness and de

light in a collection may influence others to make acquisi

tions with equal pleasure and discrimination.

For their cooperation in connection with this exhibi

tion, we wish also to thank Mrs. Gardner Cowles, Mr.

David E. Finley, Director of the National Gallery of Art,

Mr. John Walker, Chief Curator, and Captain Molyneux's

associate, Baron de Cramer.

Andrew Carnduff Ritchie

Director, Department of Painting and Scidpture

The Museum of Modern Art, Neiv York

THE CHARM AND THE SPECIFIC CHARACTER of the

Molyneux Collection lie not only in the exceptional quality

of the paintings assembled by this famous Parisian per

sonality, but to an even greater extent in the unusual unity

of his collection as a whole. This is not just a series of fine

pictures assembled over a period of years, it is a group to

which each individual canvas contributes a new note per

fectly in key with the rest. While these paintings have

been gathered with great patience and discernment, it is

love above all which presided over their final rendezvous

on the walls of Captain Molyneux's enchanting apartment

overlooking Paris. Instead of selecting large and imposing

masterpieces, Molyneux has concentrated his attention on

small canvases in which spontaneity is unbridled and where

the painter seems to abandon himself exclusively to his

own pleasure. There is an intimacy in these paintings and

a quiet loveliness seldom attained in more ambitious works.

Even the bitter genius of a Lautrec is represented here by

an exquisite little picture. Indeed, exquisiteness seems to

be the leitmotiv of the entire collection. The impressionists

are shown in their most subtle aspects (particularly Berthe

Morisot) , and Bonnard and Vuillard were never better than

in the canvases here assembled. As to the living Rouault,

Utrillo, Dufy, and Matisse, each painter has contributed

works of an exceptional mood and beauty.

If they are not large in size, the paintings of the Moly

neux collection are nonetheless outstanding in quality, each

one of them a happy expression of wonderful visual discov

eries. Leaving the full power of big orchestras to museums,

Captain Molyneux, a painter himself, has surrounded his

daily life with the loveliest chamber music created during

the last hundred years.

John Reward

OCCASIONALLY WE SEE A COLLECTION ill which each

work of art has been chosen because it has so touched the

heart that the desire for possession has been irresistible.

The group of French paintings which Captain Molyneux

has generously lent to the National Gallery is such a col

lection. Looking at it one senses immediately the love that

has gone into its assembling. In each painting there is

the reflection of that often long and always passionate

search for the particular piece of canvas or paper, some

times only a scrap of either, which has especially stimulated

the eye, or enchanted the fancy, or challenged the mind

of the collector.

Many pictures in the last hundred years have been

painted for the public approval of salons and museums;

fewer have been created for the intimate communion of

private rooms. Captain Molyneux has avoided official

pictures, which one finds even in the work of artists un

popular with officials. Seeking, instead, the personal flash

of inspiration, he has found works of unexpected and spon

taneous beauty. He has been especially attracted to paint

ings which convey with romantic intensity the deliciousness

of life before the first World War. This exhibition is in a

way, therefore, a nostalgic tribute to a vanished world, a

world nowhere more vividly recorded than in the canvases

of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.

John Walker

Chief Curator

The National Gallery of Art

Washington , D. C.

List of Paintings

PIERRE BONNARD (1867-1947)

Two Dogs. 1895

Madame Claude Terrasse and Her Children. 1898

Children Leaving School

Boulevard des Batignolles. 1900

EUGENE BOUDIN (1824-1898)

On the Jetty. 1870

The Beach. 1877

Berck

Loading the Boats

Sunshades, Trouville

Seascape

Women at Trouville

Women at Trouville

Beach at Deauville

PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906)

The Small Bridge

J. B. C. COROT (1796-1875)

River Scene with Bridge. 1S34

Seascape — Arromanches

EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917)

Madame Rene de Gas

Race Horses

Ballet Dancers

RAOUL DUFY (lsso- )Regatta at Le Havre

PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903)

Still Life. 1891

S. V. E. LUPINE (1835-1892)

Woman in the Woods

The Seine at Notre Dame

UDOUARD MANET (1832-1883)

Portrait of Madame Stanislas Lepine. 1878

Still Life of Flowers

The Bon Bock Cafe. 1881

HENRI MATISSE (1869- )

Still Life

Landscape

River Scene. 1904

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)

Portrait of Madame Monet and Bazille. 1868

BERTHE MORISOT (1841-1895)

The Harbor of Lorient. 1868

Portrait of the Artist's Sister

Portrait of Madame de Pontillon. 1869

Portrait of Madame de Pontillon and

Her Daughter

PABLO PICASSO (1881- )

Self-Portrait

CAMILLE PISSARRO (1830-1903)

Route de Louvciennes. 1872

PIERRE AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)

Landscape at Vetheuil. I860

Woman in a Park. 1868

Woman in a Park. 1868

Woman in a Landscape. 1868

Nude. 1868

The Blue River. 1868

Head of a Dog. 1870f

"Red Head" — Portrait of Mile. Samary. 1870

Woman and Two Children in a Field. 1872

Portrait of Madame Monet and Her Son. 1874

Regatta at Argenteuil. 1875

Portrait of Georges Riviere. 1877

Landscape between Storms

White Houses at Cagnes

Young Girl Reading

Head of a Child

Head of a Child

GEORGES ROUAULT (mi- )

The Virgin and Child

Christ and the Doctor

ANDRE DUNOYER DE SEGONZAC(1884- )

Still Life with Oranges

GEORGES SEURAT (1859-1891)

Study for "La Grande Jatte"

ALFRED SISLEY (1839-1899)

Route a St. Germain. 1872

HENRI I)E TOULOUSE-LAUTREC

(1864-1901)

Carmen. 1885

The Artist's Dog — Fleche

MAURICE UTRILLO (1883- )

Landscape with Houses. 1908

Landscape with Houses. 1908

Landscape — Houses Under a Cliff

VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890)

Farmhouse in Provence. 1888

MAURICE DE VLAMINCK (1876-

River Scene with Bridge. 1920

EDOUARD VUILLARD (1868-1940)

Woman Sitting by Fireside. 1894

The Yellow Curtains

Breakfast. 1894

Man with Child Wearing Red Scarf

Woman at Her Toilette

Conversation Piece

Woman in Bed

Portrait of Madame Monet and Bazille. 1868

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)

'

Portrait of the Artist's Sister

BERTHE MORISOT (1841-1895)

H. K. PRESS

WASHINGTON