An Asian Fairy-bluebird
signed with monogram and dated 40 (lower left)
oil on board
26.5 x 21cm

Provenance:
Purchased directly from the artist by Pamela, Lady Glenconnor (1903-1989)
by whom gifted to Anne, Lady Glenconner (1932-)
and by descent within the family to the present owner

Born to a family of shoemakers in Dole, France, during a period in which the provincial bourgeoisie classes were rapidly expanding, Simon Bussy was the first in his family afforded the opportunity to liberate himself from the restrictive shackles of the family trade. Although an accomplished painter of portraits and landscapes, it is for his small-scale studies of animals, particularly those of birds and reptiles, that Bussy is perhaps best known today.

As a young man, Bussy was awarded a scholarship to study at the local drawing school, before travelling to Paris to study under Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts. Whilst he gained valuable experience under Moreau, the Symbolist works of his mentor were of little consequence to Bussy, who cited Japanese prints and the works of painters, such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Edgar Degas, as his primary influences.

After a successful solo exhibition at the hugely influential and innovative Galerie Durand-Rue, in 1901, Bussy left Paris for London. Upon his arrival in the city, Bussy was quickly introduced to the fashionable Bohemian scene by his friend and fellow artist, William Rothenstein. It was during this time that Bussy was introduced to Dorothy Strachey, who, in 1903, would become his wife. As a novelist in her own right and as the sister of Lytton Strachey, Dorothy and Simon were closely associated with the Bloomsbury Group and would often host members, including Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, at their marital home, Le Souco, in Roquebrune, near Monaco.

Alternating between Roquebrune and London, it was in the United Kingdom, specifically at London Zoo, where Bussy is known to have created most of his animal studies. Discussing these works, Bussy wrote: “Every work is an invention, a poetic composition, not only decorative. In the animals I paint and in the environment around them there is no element that has not been the subject of a patient observation”. Indeed, through his bold and confident presentation of colour, simplification of form and space and the meticulous and nuanced interpretation of the character of each animal, the present lots demonstrate the seamless confluence of the formal and the more ineffable and totemic qualities that have made Bussy’s works so collectable.

Condition Report

The board with a light layer of surface dirt and some negligible accretions (mostly isolated to the lower left quadrant). Paint layer appears in good order overall, though there are some networks of very fine cracks largely located to the sky and buildings. Colours appear bright and strong. See additional images.