Further Images
| Medium | Oil on board |
| Signed | Signed lower left |
| Size | 18.00" × 22.00" (45.7cm × 55.9cm) |
| Framed Size | 27.00" × 31.00" (68.6cm × 78.7cm) |
| Dated | c. 1940 |
| Condition | Very good condition |
| Provenance | Private collection - Paris |
| About this Painting | La Réussite (The Game of Patience) — A young woman in a white slip leans intently over a low table, the cards spread before her in a game of patience, while behind her companions move about a blue-walled room hung close with gilt-framed pictures. It is a glimpse into a private, unguarded moment — the kind of intimate Parisian interior that Marcel Cosson made his life's work, and painted better than almost anyone of his generation. Cosson's surfaces are pure pleasure. The white of the dress is built up in thick, broken impasto that catches the light; the deep blues and greens of the walls glow against it; touches of orange and red — the cards, a flash of warm colour at the right — spark across the composition. There is nothing fussy here. The figures are caught with a few confident strokes, dissolving at their edges into the warm shadow of the room, and the whole picture has the spontaneity of something seen rather than arranged. Born in Bordeaux in 1878, Jean-Louis-Marcel Cosson trained at the École des Beaux-Arts before settling in Paris, where Degas became his lifelong inspiration. Like Degas, he was drawn to the wings of the Opera, the dressing rooms and dance classes, the racecourse and the café — the modern city caught off its guard. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1901, winning an honourable mention that year and a medal in 1911, and showed widely in France and abroad, in New York and London. His backstage and interior scenes remain the most sought-after of all his work. La Réussite is a fine example: warm, immediate, and quietly absorbing — a private hour caught by a painter who knew exactly how to look. |
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