Raoul Dufy

Estimate

120,000 - 180,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Raoul Dufy
COURSES À MARRAKECH
Signed and inscribed Raoul Dufy Marrakech (lower center)
Watercolor on paper
19 1/2 by 25 in.
49.5 by 63.5 cm

Provenance

Perls Galleries, New York
Simon Edison, Los Angeles
Gift of the above in 1975

Exhibited

(possibly) Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Raoul Dufy 1877-1953, 1953, no. 111 (titled L'Atlas à Marrakech)
Sarasota, Ringling Museum of Art, Raoul Dufy: A Retrospective, 1978, no. 17

Literature

Fanny Guillon-Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, Catalogue raisonné des aquarelles, gouaches et pastels, vol. I, Paris, 1981, no. 359, illustrated p. 129

Catalogue Note

From the beginning of the 1920s Dufy visited racecourses frequently, often with fashion designers such as Paul Poiret and Bianchini. It was Poiret who urged Dufy to study the silhouettes of the spectators, the horses captured in mid-race and the activity in the paddocks.

Dufy ventured to Morocco in 1926 with Poiret and his son, where they were entertained by the Sultan. The sights and sounds of the race track, coupled with exotic location, undoubtedly provided the inspiration for Courses à Marrakech. Dufy successfully captures the overall intrigue of the voyeur, as the viewer peeks through the patterned curtain to catch a glimpse of the spectators and the races beyond.

Fig. 1 Adolf Schreyer, Arabe à cheval, 1858, oil on canvas, Private Collection, France