The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72238   Message #1670238
Posted By: bill kennedy
16-Feb-06 - 04:52 PM
Thread Name: BS: Name of painting? Tabu ad
Subject: RE: BS: Name of painting? Tabu ad
There was an exhibition that toured France in 1986 and 87 of Prinet's work and a catalog raisonee of sorts was produced to accompany it. on p. 51 (my translations from the French will be in parantheses) it shows

La Sonate a Kreutzer (Kreutzer Sonata) 1901
Col. Parfums Dana (?) USA

Coll. Part. USA (PRivate Collection, USA)
Exp. Salon de 1901 no 750 (exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1901)
Bibl. "Mademoiselle", mai 1915, magazine americain (apparently there was an article or print of the painting in the May 1915 issue of Mademoiselle magazine)

Cette oeuvre vendue le 17 Juillet 1901 au Prince Regent de Bavaiere, est utilisee par les parfums DANA (USA) comme etiquette du parfume TABOU.
"La Sonate a Kreutzer" est connue aux Etats-Unis sous le nom "The Violonist" (sic) depuis 1941. Javier Sewrra, Directeur de Dana Perfume, invente TABOU a Barcelone en 1932, inspire par Totem et Taboo de Freud. Ce parfum est achete par les americaines des Caraibes particulierement a la Havanne.
En 1983, dans "The Revisionist Art Calendar" l'envoi de decembre est illustre par "The Violonist" de Rene Prinet.

(This work sold on July 17 1901 to the Prince Regent of Bavaria (This would have been Luitpold) and was used by Dana Perfumes as a trademark for the perfume Tabu.
"The Kreutzer Sonata" has been known in the US as "The Violinist" since 1941. Javier Serra, Director of Dana Perfume, invented Tabu in Barcelona in 1932, inspired by Freud's "Totem and Taboo". The perfume was bought by the Americans in the Caribbean, especially in Havana. (I really don't quite know what this means but I think that's what is says!)
In 1983, in "The Revisionist Art Calendar" December is illustrated by "the Violinist" of Rene Prinet.)

Hope this helps, I have not had any luck tracking down the Revisionist Art Calendar, but the catalog I am quoting from that may be in an art library near you has a nice color reproduction. It's obvious that an artist working for Dana Perfumes (which went out of business in about 1987, right after this exhibition!) played with the image for the ad. I don't know what happened to the painting as Dana Perfumes was part of a larger company that went bankrupt, it may have been sold off or may be in some executives home somewhere.