Questroyal 2009

Louis Kronberg ( 1872 – 1965 ) Plate 24 Ballet inWhite , 1923 Pastel on canvas 24 x 18 inches Signed lower right: l. kronberg ; inscribed and dated lower left: Paris 1923 provenance Private collection An American Sensibility in Subject and Form Louis Kronberg is known today, as he was to his contemporary admirers, as a dedicated chronicler of the ballet. He was particularly devoted to the figure of the ballerina, prompting some critics to name him the “American Degas.” 3 The artist, however, saw his works as formally and thematically distinct from those of the French master, instead citing the influence of modernists such as James Abbott McNeillWhistler. To Kronberg, the American ballet dancer was an entirely different subject than its European counterparts. His subjects were respected, carefree, and famously beautiful; many French ballerinas led notoriously difficult lives, training from an early age under grueling conditions for little pay. 4 Ballet in White is characteristic of Kronberg’s whimsical aesthetic studies. Like Whistler in his nocturnes, arrangements, and harmonies centered on a particular color, Kronberg fuses his subject with her surroundings to convey a subjective feeling or mood. The dominant color white in Ballet inWhite imparts a palpable sense of spontaneity and lightness. — imh Kronberg’s paintings are featured in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York Historical Society, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Musée d’Orsay. 1 “Bought by Mrs. John L. Gardner,” Boston Daily Globe , April 8, 1912. 2 Louis Kronberg, quoted in “Ballet Girls as Subjects for the Artist’s Brush,” The NewYork Times , March 30, 1919 . 3 A. J. Philpott cites the use of this moniker in “Exhibit Paintings of Louis Kronberg,” Boston Daily Globe , November 3, 1921 . 4 Eleanor Jewett, “Louis Kronberg at His Best in Ballet Figures,” Chicago Daily Tribune , April 7, 1937. You must know the country to know the girl. The ballet girl here tries to make herself look beautiful. That is the way I paint her— as a beautiful flower. louis kronberg, 1919 2 There are few artists who have devoted so much study to the people of the stage as has Louis Kronberg and he is particularly fortunate in his studies and paintings of ballet girls. There is vivacity and rich color effects in these pictures and there is also much of sentiment. Boston Daily Globe, 1912 1