The subject of the possibly fake Van Gogh painting by Schuffenecker is very interesting. Any more info on Schuffenecker? He sounds like quite a character. How long was it after Van Gogh's death that he was finally recognized? It seems that by 1901 someone must have recognized his genius.
Claude Emile Schuffenecker was born in Fresnes-Saint-Mames (Haute Garonne) in 1851 and died in Paris in 1934, to the 83 year-old. When Van Gogh died, Schuffenecker was 39 years old.
He was partner of Gauguin like agent of Exchange and, fans both to the painting, used to visit together the Museum of the Louvre where they studied the works of the great painters.
In 1882 he is devoted to the painting like consequence of an economic crack that made him lose his job. To survive he worked as a professor of drawing of the Lycée of Paris, becoming this way a conformist official.
He always supported Gauguin, even economically, and he maintained correspondence with him while he was in Pont-Avent, Arles and Tahiti.
From Arles Gauguin informed him of his disagreements with Van Gogh, not only of the artistic point of view, but of their human relationships too. Because of his economic dependence of Theo in those dates, Gauguin ought to have enough trust with him so that this information didn't arrive to Theo´s ears, what makes think that the relationships of Schuffenacker with the Van Gogh family would not be very flowing.
Schuffenacker gave lodging to Gauguin in his own home in diverse occasions, like in 1887 when he returned sick of Martinique, or in December of 1888, when he abandoned Van Gogh in Arles. His home became center of the painters of the group of Pont–Aven (group created by Gauguin), among whom he was included.
In 1889 Gauguin painted the canvas titled "The Family of Schuffenacker", in which in a first plane the wife and two children are located, and to the bottom, next to an easel, Schuffenacker is in shy and diffident attitude. It is said that Gauguin had relationships with the wife of his friend and host, whom he called "le bon Schuff "in an affectionate way, although it seems that he treated him with contempt.
He was friend of painters as Emile Bernard, Pisarro, Gauguin and of the critical Lucien Leclerq. Some landmarks of his professional life were:
1880: He exposes for the first time in the Salon
1883: He is rejected of the Salon
1884: He participates in the foundation of the "Salon of the Independents"
1886 Supported by Pisarro he exposes in the VIII Impressionist Exhibition
1889: He organizes the exhibition of the Impressionists in the Café Volpini, as alternative to the Universal Exhibition
He is related with fakes in works of Van Gogh and other painters.
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