Lot 184
  • 184

Raoul Dufy

Estimate
1,200,000 - 1,800,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Raoul Dufy
  • L’Artiste et son modèle
  • Signed Raoul Dufy, dated 1929 and dedicated à Messieurs Josse et Gaston Bernheim (lower center)
  • Oil on canvas
  • 51 1/4 by 63 3/4 in.
  • 130 by 162 cm

Provenance

Josse & Gaston Bernheim, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Cent ans de peinture française, 1930, no. 39
Venice, Biennale Internationale, 1934, no. XII
Paris, Galerie Max Kaganovitch, Oeuvres récentes de Raoul Dufy, 1936, no. 8
Pittsburgh, Thirtieth Annual Carnegie Institute Exhibition, 1940, no. 205
Lyon, Musée de Lyon, Raoul Dufy, 1957, no. 39, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune-Dauberville, Chefs-d’oeuvre de Raoul Dufy, 1959, no. 19, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Cent ans de portraits, 1962
Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, La Fée Électricité et Raoul Dufy, 1965, no. 19
Tokyo, Musée National d’Art Occidental & Kyoto, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Raoul Dufy, 1967-68, no. 32, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Poiret le Magnifique, 1974, no. 386   
London, Hayward Gallery; Plymouth, City Art Museum and Art Gallery & Nottingham, Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Raoul Dufy, 1983-84, no. 84, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Raoul Dufy, Séries et séries noires, 1997, no. 36, illustrated in color in the catalogue 
Le Havre, Musée Malraux; Céret, Musée d'Art Moderne & Roubaix-La-Piscine, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie André Diligent, Raoul Dufy: du motif à la couleur, 2003, no. 189
Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Raoul Dufy, Le Plaisir, 2008-09, no. 76, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Literature

Berr De Turique, Raoul Dufy, Fleury, 1931, illustrated p. 11
Maximilien Gauthier, Raoul Dufy, Les Gémeaux, Paris, 1949, illustrated pl. 12
Marcel Brion, Raoul Dufy, Peintures et aquarelles, Cologne, 1959, no. 40
Maurice Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, vol. III, Paris, 1976, no. 1168, illustrated p. 198

Condition

Work is in excellent condition. Canvas is not lined. There is a some minor surface dirt in a few places and a very thin, faint web of craquelure throughout the upper register. Some localized craquelure in the red and yellow panes at left. Under UV light: a few small strokes of inpainting to address cracks in red pane, and a few minor strokes around extreme edges. Otherwise fine.
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.

Catalogue Note

L'Artiste et son modèle is an orchestra of lush, warm colors, evocative of the atmosphere of the South of France, conjuring a sense of warmth and vibrancy rarely seen on such scale in Dufy’s oeuvre. Indeed one of the most monumental compositions of the artist’s career, this rare and festive self-portrait scene offers an amalgam of Dufy’s most significant contributions to early modern art in the first three decades of the twentieth century.  

Like that of “Master of Color” Henri Matisse, Dufy’s oeuvre and legacy are most impressively characterized by his exuberant palette. His later canvases are a celebration of color and pattern, indeed stemming back to the fateful moment at the Salon d’Automne of 1905 when he first saw Matisse’s Luxe, calm et volupté, prompting his famous proclamation: “At the sight of this picture I understood all the new reasons for painting, and Impressionist realism lost its charm for me as I contemplated the miracle of the imagination introduced into design and color. I immediately understood the new pictorial mechanics” (John Elderfield, The “Wild Beasts:” Fauvism and Its Affinities, New York, 1976, p. 78). One cannot lay eyes on a work from this period of Dufy’s career and not be struck by the associations with the art of Matisse, though his technique and selected imagery were very much his own. Known to his contemporaries as "the enchanter," Dufy found further inspiration in the way forms and colors were transformed by light, a theme which strongly resonated with many of his artistic forbearers. Dora Perez-Tibi noted that in his early years, "[Dufy] had become aware of the need to recreate observed reality in terms of his own ‘reality,’ and went on to elaborate his theory of ‘couleur-lumière,’ with which he experimented, and which he would apply to his entire oeuvre" (Dora Perez-Tibi, Dufy, New York, 1989, pp. 23-24).

Rendered in a brilliant palette of blues and greens, L’Artiste et son modèle presents a seaside studio that overlooks a marine harbor teeming with activity. While incorporating his own self portrait as well as his archetypal nude, the artist further illustrates elements of both his window paintings of the 1920s and his studio series of the 1930s. Dufy is recognized for his conflation of interior and exterior scenes, his facility for deftly reinterpreting both in his decorative technique. As David F. Setford elaborates: “Here, the contents of the interior—the exotic wallpaper, rug, and chair, and the armoire and table—contrast with the splendid, deep blue serenity of the water and sky outside… The blueness invades the interior through the reflection in the armoire’s mirror, a magnificent effect which balances the composition coloristically. The interior and exterior are united through Dufy’s eyes in their implicit seductivity and sensuality. In the room, we see creature comforts, elegant curves, and exotic patterns. The landscape outside is that of the hedonist, and of the worshipper of the sun and the caressing warm of the south. The window paintings at Nice…summarize a northerner’s growing awareness of the good things of life. More than that, these paintings helped Dufy to find himself as an artist, and paint what he was born to paint—the love and goodness of all creation, natural or manmade” (David F. Setford, Raoul Dufy, Last of the Fauves (exhibition catalogue), Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, 1999, p. 58).

The present work comes to auction after many decades in the family collection of brothers Josse and Gaston Bernheim, the formidable dealer pair who inherited Galerie Bernheim-Jeune and largely shaped its distinguished history as a premier venue for both Impressionist and early modern art.