Alfred Courmes

Huile sur toile
Signée en bas au milieu, située Ostende et datée

Edouard et Christiane Courmes, Paris (par descendance de l'artiste en 1993)
Vente Binoche, Renaud-Giquello & Associés, Paris, 26 novembre 2008, lot 128

The canvas is lined. Close inspection reveals a network of stable hairline craquelure. Under UV light, two small spots fluoresce on the woman's forearm with some smaller dots along the left edge and in the lower right corner, otherwise this work is in very good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Lendemain de carnaval', an oil on canvas by Edouard Courmes, 1929. Signed, located and dated

Surnommé ‘L'Ange du mauvais goût’ par ses contemporains, Alfred Courmes crée tout au long de sa carrière un univers plastique unique, toujours provocateur, souvent humoristique. Né en 1898 dans le Var, Courmes s’installe à Paris dès 1930 où il expose au Salon des Indépendants et des Tuileries. Pendant un séjour à Ostende, il fait la connaissance de James Ensor, Constant Permeke et Félix Labisse. A la même époque il se passionne pour la peinture des maîtres anciens flamands.  Cette juxtaposition surprenante, qui confronte les traditions du classicisme et une vision expressionniste et surréaliste, se manifeste dans son œuvre, où des thèmes religieux ou mythologiques sont détournés d’une manière satirique ou même blasphématoire. 

Ce lot est vendu avec un certificat de Madame Christiane Courmes.

Nicknamed the « Angel of Bad Taste » by his peers, throughout his long career spanning the twentieth century Alfred Courmes created a unique visual universe that was always provocative and often tongue-in-cheek. Born in 1898 in the Var region, Courmes settled in Paris in 1930 and began exhibiting at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries. During a trip to Ostend, he became acquainted with James Ensor, Constant Permeke and Félix Labisse. At the same time, he devoured painting by Flemish Old Masters such as Van Eyck, Hans Holbein, Dürer and Brueghel. This surprising juxtaposition, a confrontation of the traditions of Classicism with an Expressionist and Surrealist vision, would manifest itself in his work, in which religious and mythological themes are reworked in a satirical or even blasphemous manner.

This piece is sold with a certificate from the widow of the artist's son.