Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2011.

Excursion

Artist Henri Edmond Cross (French, 1856-1910)

CultureFrench

Date1895

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions44 1/2 x 63 3/4 in. (113 x 161.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 54 x 72 x 4 in. (137.2 x 182.9 x 10.2 cm)

InscribedSigned and dated lower left: HENRI EDMOND CROSS 95

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number77.416

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 217

DescriptionThis is a large oil on canvas painting utilizing the divisionist style of paint application. It is an outdoor scene and the viewer is placed with the party atop a bluff; it overlooks the green countryside below and the Mediterranean Sea. There are four figures and a dog in the foreground. The two women have their backs to the viewer. The woman standing shades her eyes, to look out of the scene, while her left hand touches the hand of a man examining the foliage. There are four more figures in the middle ground. The colors fade out as the scene moves into the background, displaying use of atmospheric perspective.

Label TextHenri Edmond Cross French, 1856–1910 Excursion, 1895 Oil on canvas Henri Cross shows workers using their newly won time off by vigorously enjoying nature, in this case, the seaside on the Mediterranean coast. While Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh wanted to show their truthfulness to nature by producing their small, sketch-size paintings out-of-doors and on the spot, Cross and other "neo-Impressionists" went back to the traditional system of making large finished works in the studio. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 77.416 ProvenanceCross atelier sale, Hotel Drouot, Oct. 28, 1921 (cat. no. 27); Dr. Roudinesco, Paris; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Loaned to the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, 1973; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1977. Exhibition History"Salon des Indépendants," Paris, April 1895. (Exh. cat. no. 318). "Seurat et ses Amis," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1933-1934. (Exh. cat. no. 16). "H.E. Cross," Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1937. (Exh. cat. no. 42). "Il Divisionismo," Venice, 1952. (Exh. cat. no. 9). "French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Dayton Art Institute, March 25 - May 22, 1960. (Exh. cat. no. 77). "The Outline and the Dot," Dallas, 1962. (Exh. cat. no. 35). "The Past Rediscovered: French Painting 1800-1900," Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1969. (Exh. cat. no. 20). "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exh. cat. no. 27). "Neo-Impressionism: Artists on the Edge," Portland Museum of Art, Maine, June 27 - Oct. 20, 2002. (Exh. cat. fig. 18). "Utopia Matters: From Brotherhood to Bauhaus," Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, January 23 - April 11, 2010; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, May 1 - July 25, 2010. "The Agrarian Ideal: Monet, van Gogh, Homer," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 7, 2016 - January 8, 2017. "Color and Light, The Neo-Impressionist Henri Edmond Cross," Museum Barberini Potsdam, Germany, November 17, 2018 - February 17, 2019.Published ReferencesPriscilla C. Colt and Charles H. Elam. _French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio. 1960. Isabelle Compin. _H.E. Cross_. Paris. 1964. pp.135-136, no. 45. Chrysler Museum (CK). "Recent Accessions," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_. Vol. 1, no. 13. Norfolk: Chrysler Museum. 03/1973. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1978. No. 27. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum. 1991. p. 162, no. 124. Carrie Haslett, Michael Marlais, and Sabrina DeTurk, _Neo-Impressionism: Artists on the Edge_, exh. cat., Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Me., 2002, 31--32, fig. 18. Kara Mason, Helena Winston, eds., _Utopia Matters: From Brotherhood to Bauhaus_, exh.cat., Deutsche Bank & The Soloman Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY, 2010, 81, plate 36. Vivian Greene, "Utopia Matters: From Brotherhood to Bauhaus," _Deustche Guggenheim Magazine_11 (2010): 17. Joseph J. Rishel, _Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia_, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennslyvania, 2012, 53. Frederic Frank, Marina Ferretti Bocquillon, Ortrud Wetheider, and Michael Philip, editors. _Color and Light: The Neo-Impressionist Henri-Edmond Cross_. (New York: Prestel, 2018). no. 24, page 109. "Ausflug ans Meer: Fundstücke aus Kunst und Literatur," in _Mere_ June-July 2020, no. 140, p.33.