Albert Marquet

Galerie Druet, Paris
Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne
Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 28, 1988, lot 24
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galerie Druet, Exposition Albert Marquet, 1907, no. 10
Nottingham, City Art Gallery and Museum ; Manchester, City Art Gallery, Sounds of Colour, organized by the Arts Council, 1984-85
Pontoise, Musée Pissarro, Bleu, Blanc, Rouge, Les couleurs de la France dans la peinture française, 1989-1990

Work is in excellent condition. Canvas is not lined. Nailhead size loss at center of right edge, and a few very minor pindots of loss at lower right corner and extreme top left edge, otherwise fine. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Marquet's jubilant oil Le Pavillon bleu à Saint-Cloud belongs to a well-known series completed during the artist's Fauve period. Depictions of this patriotic holiday featured in the works of several artists, including Claude Monet and Edouard Manet, but it was arguably the Fauves who best captured the exuberance of the day's commemorative festivities. The vibrant, tri-band colors of the French flag, the street parades and the festive atmosphere were the perfect subjects for these 'wild beast' painters. Both Marquet and his colleague Raoul Dufy recognized the expressive potential of capturing this public celebration on canvas, and capitalized on their ground-breaking style of painting to render this event. 

For Marquet's depictions of  Le Quatorze Juillet, the setting is Saint-Cloud, a then-village that is one kilometer southwest of the Bois de Boulgne outside of Paris. For the present picture, Marquet uses bold colors and sharp, cobalt blues to highlight the most salient aspects of the composition, but renders the extraneous background details in more muted tones. Despite the lack of people on the boulevard, the energy of the day is unmistakable, thanks to Marquet's innovative use of brushwork.  Both the flags and the window recesses are executed with expressive dabs of color.

Over and beyond the use of Fauvist color, the present work illustrates how Marquet had begun to simplify the compostional forms of his works.  Strident blocks of color interact with the rhythms created by horizontal and diagonal flag poles, demonstrating Marquet's move toward a more abstract version of reality.  This tendency might have owed something to the influence of Gauguin; the 1906 Salon d'Automne had brought his work to the general public's attention, and the simplified planes and blocks of color in his works had a profound influence on numerous artists.  The simplicity and lack of ornamentation in these works is a signal of the direction Marquet's art was taking during this critical period of his career.