Monsieur Bénard in front of 'Le Grand Teddy', 1931 (pastel on card)

Monsieur Bénard devant le tableau du Grand Teddy The present work depicts Georges Bénard (1881-1934), whose family bank of the same name was responsible for financing railroad construction in Paris and the Parisian metro. He was a great art collector of works by Amedeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse, Marie Laurencin, Pablo Picasso and Vuillard, among others. The stock market crash in 1929 forced him to sell most of his artworks the following year. He was a great friend of many artists including Vuillard and Laurencin, who also painted his portrait in 1922 (Marchesseau, no. 269). In the present work, Bénard is depicted standing in front of Vuillard's Le Grand Teddy, a series of three oval paintings executed in 1918 for Le Grand Teddy tea rooms in Paris.