Mr. and Mrs. Ryerson loaned 14 watercolors by Maufra—one of which was Le Baie d’Escalgrain (Escalgrain Bay in France)—from their private collection to the Art Institute of Chicago for its First International Exhibition of Water Colors in 1921. Other notable artists represented in this landmark show included Gifford Beal, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Arthur B. Davies, Charles Demuth, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Jun Fujita, Johan Barthold Jongkind, John Marin, Ambrose McEvoy, Auguste Rodin, Herman Rosse, John Singer Sargent, Paul Signac, and many more. Martin Ryerson was a founding trustee at the Art Institute of Chicago and president of the Field Museum of Natural History, and his wife, Carrie, was an equally active philanthropist. Along with those museums, Rockford Art Museum also received donations from the Ryersons, including this work by Maxime Maufra, and two by Stanislas Lepine and Maurice de Vlaminck.
