"The Old Summer House"
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right: Guy Rose, titled on the stretcher, titled again and inscribed on a gum label affixed to the stretcher: France
28.75" H x 23.5" W
Exhibitions: The Los Angeles Art Association, Los Angeles, CA, n.d.
Notes: With the Stendahl Galleries stamp signed by Ethel Rose and Earl Stendahl and dated March, 1926 verso.
"The Old Summer House" was likely executed between 1907 and 1912 while Rose was actively painting in Giverny and had fully and completely committed to Impressionism. In this intimate forest interior view of vines and bushes growing into and overtaking an old summer cottage, Rose's "mature sensitivity to the interpretation of transient color and fugitive light" is displayed (South, p. 40).
Purely impressionistic works such as this painting "records a series of perceptions and experiences culled from a heightened awareness of the visible" (South, pp. 40-41). The fairly constrained color palette of "The Old Summer House" reflects the French forest setting, but within the limited palette of mostly greens to yellows, Rose creates endless, subtle and distinct colors from blue-green shadows to yellow-green sunlit highlights. Gauzy light filtered through overhead trees is visualized with soft colors and flatter, swirling b rushwork in the upper part of the composition. Foreground brushwork becomes much more defined and lively on the forest floor and on the vines trailing the cottage porch.
The present painting is a wonderful reflection of Rose's personal views of the transcendent spirituality of nature and his belief that the act of painting was a mediation between nature and the divine, while also showcasing Rose's fully developed impressionist technique, honed from Master French Impressionist and Giverny neighbor Claude Monet's optical wizardry (South p. 50).

Visual: Generally good condition. A few areas of craquelure scattered throughout. Blacklight: Two small spots of touch-up lower right. Two small spots of touch-up along the lower left edge.
Frame: 39" H x 34" W x 4.5" D.