Claude-Émile Schuffenecker (8 December 1851 – 31 July 1934) was a French Post-Impressionist artist, painter, art teacher and art collector. A friend of

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

and Odilon Redon, and one of the first collectors of works by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

, Schuffenecker was instrumental in establishing The Volpini Exhibition, in 1889.

Biography

Claude-Émile Schuffenecker, son of Nicolas Schuffenecker (1829–1854) and Anne Monnet (1836–1907) was born in Fresne-Saint-Mamès (

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.Guewenheim (

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, today

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

), died when Émile was little more than two years old; the same year his brother Amédée was born in Charentenay (Haut-Rhin). The widow with her two boys moved to

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

, close to Paris, where part of her mother's family lived, and where she had found work at a laundry. In the years to follow Émile was raised by his mother's sister, Anne Fauconnet Monnet, and her husband Pierre Cornu in Paris, educated by the Frères des Ecoles chrétiennes, and started work in his uncle's business, a chocolate and coffee-roasting facility in the Les Halles quarter. On 28 February 1872, Schuffenecker joined the broker Bertin, where he met Paul Gauguin; they became close friends. Both used to study the Old Masters at the Louvre, and worked at the Académie Colarossi. In 1880, Schuffenecker married a cousin, Louise Lançon (1860-); their daughter Jeanne was born in 1882, their son Paul in 1884. In these years, however, the economic situation decreased. By 1880, both Schuffenecker and Gauguin evidently had gained enough money to leave Bertin—just in time before the French

Panama canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

project began to turn into a disaster—and to try to stand on their own feet: Both opted for a career in the arts, and probably for additional income at the stock exchange. Then, in January 1882, the Paris Bourse crashed, and while Gauguin chose to remain independent, Schuffenecker decided to apply for the diploma to teach. Two years later, he was appointed to teach drawing at the Lycée Michelet in

Vanves Vanves () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe and the tenth in France History On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris ...

, with the painter

Louis Roy Louis Roy (20 July 1959 – disappeared 23 June 2000), better known as "Mélou", was a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster, said to have been the richest Hells Angel in Quebec. Biography Roy was born and grew up in Trois-Rivières. He was a memb ...

as a collegial friend. Affiche Volpini

Much has been said about Gauguin's portrait of "le bon Schuff" and his family, painted early in 1889 in Schuffenecker's studio, soon after Gauguin's return from Arles: judging from Gauguin's portrait, the personal relations of the couple are widely considered to have been precarious. Since Gauguin's return from Denmark, in 1885, he had been welcome to stay at Schuffenecker's, but soon after his return from Brittany in 1890, Gauguin was asked to find a place elsewhere. Rumours (most probably initiated by

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his nota ...

) spread that Schuffenecker had been betrayed by his wife, and for years, he separated himself from his family, until in 1899, his wife demanded a divorce and won the right of custody over their children. He left the Lycée in 1914. Schuffenecker died in Paris, 33 rue Olivier de Serres, and was buried at the Montparnasse cemetery on 3 August.

Artist

Claude Emile Schuffenecker Notre Dame de Paris

Together with Gauguin, Schuffenecker was trained at the

Académie Suisse The Académie Suisse was a very popular, informal, art school founded by Martin François Suisse (1781–1859)From Filae.com, 23 juin 2021 Source: Registres journaliers d'inhumation des cimetières parisiens Les documents d'origine sont consult ...

, in 1872, and at the Académie Colarossi, in 1883—but his point of depart was, in 1866, the private atelier of

Paul Baudry Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. In 1869 he received a "first-class mention in design" as a pupil of Father Athanase, and from 1872 to 1881, he continued his training with Carolus-Duran, admittance to the annual Salon included. In 1882 and 1883, however, his paintings were refused by the Salon jury. So Schuffenecker, in 1884, joined the Société des Artistes Indépendants and, in 1886, the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

in their 8th and final exhibition.

Art collector

Jean de Rotonchamp, Gauguin's first biographer, described Schuffenecker's collection at 14, rue Durand-Claye, in 1906: Besides paintings by Gauguin such as '' The Yellow Christ'' and some of his ceramics, there were works by Cézanne, including a female portrait, and several works by Vincent van Gogh, a ''

Postman A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

'', an '' Olive orchard in Provence'', '' The Good Samaritan'', an '' Arlésienne'' and a version of the ''

Sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to N ...

''.

Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

prints and some Redon complete Rotonchamp's survey.

Alleged forgery

Since the late 1920s, Schuffenecker is suspected to have '' imitated'' the work of other contemporary artists including

. When the Wacker scandal emerged and Schuffenecker's name was dropped, cautious voices already claimed that a ''young Swiss artist'' (!) inspired by Van Gogh cannot be blamed. Some sketches and drawings prove that Schuffenecker carefully studied works by Van Gogh in his possession. But there is also evidence that Schuffenecker went a step further and "completed" paintings he considered to be unfinished. In 1927, he himself frankly admitted to having "finished" the '' Large Tree at Montbriand'', then in the collection of Maurice Gangnat, as well as other works by

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

: a landscape from L'Estaque as well as a portrait of his wife, and a view of the pool at the Jas de Bouffan. Presumably, Schuffenecker also embellished versions of Van Gogh's ''

'' and ''

Daubigny's Garden ''Daubigny's Garden'', painted three times by Vincent van Gogh, depicts the enclosed garden of Charles-François Daubigny, a painter whom Van Gogh admired throughout his life. Van Gogh started with a small study of a section of the garden. Then ...

'' slightly, both since 1894 in his possession. This was possibly done simply to adapt a painting to a frame he had at hand, which is the reason he mentioned to Maximilien Gauthier. But up to now, it has never been established that Schuffenecker indeed forged, comprising the intention to betray. Jill-Elyse Grossvogel stated in the preface to her catalogue raisonné: "We can now confirm the fact, based on the most recent research, that Schuffenecker did no forgeries of Van Gogh's paintings prior to 1900. It is too soon to specify titles and dates of forged works post-1900 until additional evidence is carefully reviewed."Grossvogel 2000, p. LII

Notes

References

* Boudot-Lamotte, Maurice: ''Le peintre et collectionneur Claude-Emile Schuffenecker (1851-1934)'', L'Amour de l'Art XVII/8, October 1936, pp. 284 * Puget, Catherine, & Grossvogel, Jill-Elyse: ''Emile Schuffenecker 1851-1934'', Musée de Pont-Aven & (Saint-Germain-en-Laye,) Musée Maurice Denis "Le Prieuré", 1996

* Grossvogel, Jill-Elyse: ''Claude-Emile Schuffenecker, Catalogue raisonné, volume I'', Alan Wofsky Fine Arts, San Francisco, 2000 * Grossvogel, David I.: ''Behind the Van Gogh Forgeries'', Authors Choice Press (March 2001) /

External links

*
Sacramento Bee - ''Efforts to authenticate painting brushed off by museum''

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuffenecker, Emile 1851 births 1934 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Post-impressionist painters French art collectors Art forgers Alsatian-German people Pont-Aven painters Académie Colarossi alumni 19th-century French male artists