GEORGE ALFRED BOTTINI (FRENCH 1874-1907), TWO COURTESANS

GEORGE ALFRED BOTTINI (FRENCH 1874-1907) TWO COURTESANS Oil on canvas Signed (lower left) 27 x 22cm (10½ x 8½in.) Provenance: Sale, Christie's London, 2 December 1960, lot 165 (sold for 42 guineas) Montmartre born Bottini, became a quintessential figure of the Montmartre bohemia of the period. A self-styled dandy, he adopted an elegant appearance, sporting knickerbockers and a bowler hat and deliberately spelling his first name in the English manner. He became a regular at the various clubs and haunts of the area including the Moulin de la Galette, La Souris, the Bal Tabarin, and the seedy hotels of the Rue Bréda district. He frequently depicted the provocative, heavily made figures of the dancers and prostitutes that he encountered in both oil and watercolour. Bottini enrolled in Fernand Cormon’s studio in 1894 and from 1896 onwards took part in the Expositions des peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes at the Galerie Georges Petit. The following year he made his debut at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. As well as painting, he developed a career as a poster artist and press and book illustrator, collaborating with Le Rire, then directed by Arsène Alexandre, who likened Bottini to a modern Constantin Guys and introduced him to Toulouse-Lautrec and Louis Anquetin. He caught syphilis when still a teenager and by 1907, his mental and physical health was so poor that he was committed to the asylum at Villejuif, where he died shortly thereafter. Condition Report Disclaimer, GEORGE ALFRED BOTTINI (FRENCH 1874-1907), TWO COURTESANS, GEORGE ALFRED BOTTINI (FRENCH 1874-1907) TWO COURTESANS Oil on canvas Signed (lower left) 27 x 22cm (10½ x 8½in.) Provenance: Sale, Christie's London, 2 December 1960, lot 165 (sold for 42 guineas) Montmartre born Bottini, became a quintessential figure of the Montmartre bohemia of the period. A self-styled dandy, he adopted an elegant appearance, sporting knickerbockers and a bowler hat and deliberately spelling his first name in the English manner. He became a regular at the various clubs and haunts of the area including the Moulin de la Galette, La Souris, the Bal Tabarin, and the seedy hotels of the Rue Bréda district. He frequently depicted the provocative, heavily made figures of the dancers and prostitutes that he encountered in both oil and watercolour. Bottini enrolled in Fernand Cormon’s studio in 1894 and from 1896 onwards took part in the Expositions des peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes at the Galerie Georges Petit. The following year he made his debut at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. As well as painting, he developed a career as a poster artist and press and book illustrator, collaborating with Le Rire, then directed by Arsène Alexandre, who likened Bottini to a modern Constantin Guys and introduced him to Toulouse-Lautrec and Louis Anquetin. He caught syphilis when still a teenager and by 1907, his mental and physical health was so poor that he was committed to the asylum at Villejuif, where he died shortly thereafter. Provenance:, Le Rire, Condition Report Disclaimer

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