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Although not an expert on art authentication I think this watercolour could very well be by the hand of Simon Bussy himself. It was found in a huge graphics collection being dissolved “in tranches” and was annotated in pencil as by Simon Bussy and titled “Hangnest”. Besides a Brazilian endangered species of (yellow-greenish) jungle bird it is also the name of the (red and black) Baltimore Oriole who builds a “hanging nest”.
Although not an expert on art authentication I think this watercolour may very well be by the hand of Simon Bussy himself.
Anyway, I’ld like to think it is until arguments will unmask it as being by “someone else”.
It was found in a huge graphics collection being dissolved “in tranches” with a lot of French authentic graphic works. Written in pencil on the paper matt was the name: “Simon Bussy ….. Hangnest”. Besides a Brazilian endangered species of (yellow-greenish) jungle bird it is also the name of the (red and black) Baltimore Oriole who builds a “hanging nest”: Icterus galbula and state bird of Maryland USA.
The yellow bird, also titled “Hangnest”, (middle), was auctioned in 2021. Estimated at 2500-3500 BPS it fetched a staggering £16.500 (€19.000) + costs.
Bussy, close and life long friend of Henri Matisse since studying together and of humble descent was married to British aristocrat Dorothy Strachey. They lived alternatively in France and in London. In the 1920-30s he was very successful with his (tropical) bird paintings after the specimens he saw in London Zoo. His work is collected in London Tate and Paris Musée de l’Art Moderne and Centre Pompidou.
gerbrandcaspers@icloud.com
Hofmann, Ludwig von (Darmstadt 17-08-1861 – 23-08-1945 Berlin)
Painter, designer, graphic and printmaker. Son of Prussian statesman Karl von Hofmann (1827-1910) and Cora Kekulé von Stradonitz (1835–1897. His father served as Minister-president of the Grand Duchy of Hesse from 1872 to 1876 and was briefly Trade Minister in the cabinet of Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898. Their children:
• Sophie (b. 1860) ∞ zoologist Justus Carriere (1854-1893)
• Ludwig (1861–1945) ∞ Eleonore Kekulé von Stradonitz (b. 1876)
• Heinrich (1863–1921), “Generalleutnant” ∞ Freiin Asta von Grüter-Diepenbroik (1875–1940)
• Maria (b. 1865) ∞ Justus Thiersch (1859–1937), “Bezirksarzt”, son of surgeon Carl Thiersch (1822-1895)
• Cornelie (b. 1866) ∞ Max von Kaisenberg (1862–1916), “Oberstleutnant”.
He worked in a combination of the Art Nouveau and Symbolist styles. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Began his studies in 1883 at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, then studied with Ferdinand Keller (1842-1922) at the Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe. In 1889, he attended the Académie Julian in Paris, where he came under the influence of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) and Paul-Albert Besnard (1849-1934).
After 1890, he was a freelance painter in Berlin. From 1894 to 1900, he travelled extensively and spent a great deal of his time at his villa in Fiesole. His appreciation of antiquity and attraction to the idea of Arcadia permeates much of his work. After 1895, he was a regular contributor of illustrations for the Art Nouveau magazine Pan. In 1896, he became a member of the Berlin Secession and he was married in 1899. He was also a member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund
In 1903, he was appointed a Professor at the Weimar Saxon Grand Ducal Art School, where he became a member of the avant-garde literary and artistic group centred around Harry Graf Kessler (1868-1937). Jean Arp (1886-1936) and Ivo Hauptmann (1886-1973) were among his students. In 1916, he was named a Professor at the Academy in Dresden, where he remained until 1931. He also provided illustrations for a new translation of the Odyssey by philosopher Leopold Ziegler (1881-1958) and works by Gerhart Hauptmann (1882-1946) Ivo’s father.
His overall production slackened in the 1930s and, in 1937, some of his works were labeled as "degenerate art". He retired to Pillnitz, near Dresden, where he died in 1945. His remaining works were almost confiscated by the Russians after the war, but his widow managed to save them.
See: Hauptmann, Ivo