- 29
Raoul Dufy
Description
- Raoul Dufy
- Jockeys et turfistes à Epsom
- Signed Raoul Dufy (lower left)
- Gouache and watercolor on paper
- 19 3/4 by 25 1/2 in.
- 50.2 by 64.2 cm
Provenance
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York
Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney (acquired from the above before 1951)
Exhibited
London, Alex. Reid & Lefevre (The Lefevre Gallery), Picasso and his Contemporaries, 1943 (titled Goodwood)
Saratoga, New York, National Museum of Racing, A Selection of Equestrian Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney, 1989, no. 7 (titled Races at Goodwood)
Literature
Catalogue Note
The colorful dress, shaded stadiums, and broad expanses of lawn at the racecourses of Europe provided Dufy with ample opportunities to develop his color theory. As Dora Perez-Tibi has explained, “These race-course scenes – whether in France, at Deauville, Longchamp or Chantilly or, in England, at Epsom, Ascot or Goodwood – allowed Dufy to put his ‘couleur-lumière’ theory into practice. When the light ran parallel to the earth he observed that it struck the vertically represented object from one side only, while the other side remained in shadow. He decided to convey light by means of colour; the absence of colour characterizes the unlit area…For Dufy, the balance of the composition comes from the distribution of all the points of light in the centre of each element of the painting. It was here that he found the secret of his composition” (Dora Perez-Tibi, Dufy, New York, 1989, pp. 158-162).