Mathilde See - The Coffee Maker - Watercolor

The Coffee Maker
Watercolor on paper
36x46 cm / 39x49.5 cm with its frame
Signed lower right "Mathilde [See]"
On the glass, label "3" glued lower left
On the back, old exhibition labels "37" and “59”

Daughter of a wealthy banker of Alsatian origin, portrayed in her youth by James Tissot and Paul-Cesar Helleu, Mathilde See was not destined to work. However, when her father lost his fortune on the stock market in 1885, she decided to gain financial independence by making fashion designs and also as an artist. In these two areas, the one nicknamed "Fleur de chic" is successful. Admitted to the Salon in 1885, Mathilde See distinguished herself in the genre of still life, watercolor and oil, and was the subject of no less than 7 monographic exhibitions between 1909 and 1927 at the Galerie Georges Petit, one of the main Parisian art galleries. She also exhibits at the Galerie Knoedler, in her studio in Neuilly, at the Magasins du Printemps in Deauville and in London.

For her bouquets of flowers as for her still lifes of fruit, critics hailed her skills as a colorist and in drawing, but also her sense of arrangement and presentation. The labels on the glass and on the back of this watercolor bear witness to its presentation at several exhibitions. An article in La Renaissance de l'art français et des industries de luxe illustrated with a black and white photograph reveals that it was exhibited at the Galerie Georges Petit in March 1927, under the title The Coffee Maker (cf on Gallica: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61585780/f169). We did not find any mention of a coffee maker, however, in the catalog of this exhibition, where the watercolor is probably presented under n°7 and the title Still Life: Green Apples and Grapes.

The work can be viewed by appointment in Paris or Boulogne-Billancourt.