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The Complete Works of Philippe Smit
by Andreas Narzt and Florence Castellani

Catalogue entry

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Photo: Lee Stalsworth/artshooter.com; © FdDPS
Series
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Series
Series: Rollinat
Keywords
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Classification: Painting
Theme: figurative
Medium: Oil
Support: On canvas
Year: 1925
PS 257 (P 129)
L'Ange du crépuscule (The Angel at Twilight)
Alternate titles: Angel at Twilight; L'Ange du Crépuscule
1925
Oil on canvas
65 x 59 1/8 in. (165 x 150 cm)
Neither signed, nor dated
On the back: a metal plate: 129 on the frame lower left.
Collection Elizabeth Pitcairn
Inventories
Inv. Les Pleignes, P. Damidot, 1938, LNC archives: no. P 129: p. 12, escalier, Tableau par Philippe Smit. L'Ange du Crépuscule. 8.000 [FRF].
Inv. Pitcairn, n.d. [c.1957], n.p., LNC archives: no. P 129 F: Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, The Angel of the Twilight, Smit, Oil, 63 x 58 [in.].
Inv. LNC, 1984, updated Oct. 1998, LNC archives: no. [P 129]: p. 3, The Main Residence - Large Living Room, Angel of the Twilight, Oil [1998: Sold, Sharon P.], 63 x 58 [in.].
Exhibitions
1948 Maurs
Galerie Pierre Maurs, Paris, Peinture et Pastels de Philippe Smit, February 04, 1948, no. 53, as L'Ange du Crépuscule, 1925 (CP).
1988 Glencairn Museum
Glencairn Museum, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, New Light, Ten Artists Inspired by Emanuel Swedenborg, January 30–March 13, 1988, no. 11, as Angel at Twilight, c. 1930, oil, 63" x 58," lent by Sharon Pitcairn.
1993 Glencairn Museum
Glencairn Museum, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, Philippe Smit (1886-1948): An exhibition in honor of Glencairn's acquisition of the 'The Celestial Army', January 10–February 15, 1993, [2] B., as Angel at Twilight, Oil, ca. 1930, Lent by Sharon Pitcairn.
Literature & Primary Sources
Philippe Smit 1926
AL (first page) to Kasper Niehaus. Recloses, n.d. [beginning 1926].
Niehaus 1937
Niehaus, Kasper. "Philippe Smit." Elsevier's Geïllustreerd Maandschrift Jaargang 47, n° 93 (1937 januari-juli), p. 233, as L'Ange du Crépuscule.
Niehaus 1942
Niehaus, Kasper. Levende Nederlandsche Kunst. Amsterdam: Bigot & Van Rossum, 1942, p. 205, as L'Ange du Crépuscule.
Point de Vue 1948
"Un peintre inconnu présente des anges qui font du tricot." Point de Vue: les faits, les idées, les images de la semaine (Paris), no. 152 (12-02-1948), p. 15.
Niehaus 1955
Niehaus, Kasper. Philippe Smit, unkown genius. Revised and edited by Marjorie Bell. Typescript, 1955, p. 19, as L'Ange du Crépuscule.
Rollinat 1972
Rollinat, Maurice. Oeuvres. II, Les névroses [texte imprimé]; texte établi avec notice, notes et appendice par Régis Miannay. Paris: Lettres modernes Minard, 1972, as L'Ange du Crépuscule, ill. p. 11.
Notes

"[…] tu te/ rappelle Maryke quand je fesais le pastel pour l’Ange du/ crepuscule avec l’orage et que nous etions obligé[s] de nous abriter/ chez la mère polipôte. quel admosphère divin[e], quelle signification/ tout spirituel […]" [sic] (... Maryke, do you remember when I made the pastel of the Angel of the twilight with the thunderstorm, and we were obliged to shelter at Mrs. Polipote’s place. What a divine atmosphere, what meaning, completely spiritual ...) (fig. 1)

This painting is freely inspired by the poem La Vision from the volume La Nature by Maurice Rollinat:1

Après un jour pesant, dans un site morose
Où le vent, à coups brefs, annonçait son réveil,
Je regardais mourir, par degrés, le soleil …
La nue était alors vaguement bleue et rose.

Solennelle d’aspect, mystique dans sa pose,
Une grande bergère, au long du roc vermeil,
Continuait, pensive, un peu comme en sommeil,
Son tricotage errant jusqu’à l’ombre mi-close.

1. Maurice Rollinat, La Nature, Paris: G. Charpentier et E. Fasquelle, 1882, p. 120.

Additional images
FIG. 1 Philippe Smit's note to Marijke and Theodore Pitcairn added to the end of Berendina's letter to them, n.d. [24 January 1928] (private archives, Paris).
FIG. 1
Philippe Smit's note to Marijke and Theodore Pitcairn added to the end of Berendina's letter to them, n.d. [24 January 1928] (private archives, Paris).
Record last updated July 4, 2024. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Narzt, Andreas and Castellani, Florence. "L'Ange du crépuscule (The Angel at Twilight), 1925 (PS 257)." In The Complete Works of Philippe Smit. www.philippesmit.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=257 (accessed on October 22, 2024).