Charles-Henri Contencin (1898-1898)
Signed, this small oil on panel by Charles-Henri Contencin (1898–1955) shows the Dent Blanche seen from Evolène in the Val d'Hérens, Switzerland.
Contencin painted extensively across the Valais and the Mont Blanc massif, and small-format panel studies like this one – likely painted directly from the motif – represent some of his most immediate and spontaneous Alpine work. The Dent Blanche, one of the highest and most striking peaks of the Pennine Alps, was a recurring subject for painters working in the Val d'Hérens throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Collectors of Contencin's work and of Val d'Hérens/Evolène Alpine views will find this a compact, characteristic example of his small-scale plein-air practice, complementing the larger studio compositions for which he is more widely known.