Lot 158
  • 158

Robert Delaunay

Estimate
300,000 - 400,000 USD
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Description

  • Robert Delaunay
  • Portugaise au potiron
  • Signed and dated R Delaunay 1916  (lower right)
  • Oil on linen
  • 51 1/4 by 38 1/4 in.
  • 130 by 97 cm

Provenance

Galerie Louis Carré, Paris
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1965)

Exhibited

Galerie Paul Guillaume, Robert Delaunay, Paris, 1922, no. 24
Berne, Kunsthalle, Ausstellung Robert Delaunay, 1951, no. 33
Marseille, Musée Cantini, Premières étapes de la peinture moderne, 1955, no. 45
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Première Biennale de Paris: Jeunesse des Maitres, 1959, no. 18, illustrated pl. 26
Zurich, Galerie Charles Lienhard, Exposition de peinture contemporaine, 1962-1963, no. 1155 , illustrated in color

Literature

Léon Degand, Art d'Aujourd'hui, "Robert Delaunay", Paris, 1951, p. 11
Pierre Restany, Cimaise, "Robert Delaunay", Paris, 1957, p. 7
Guy Habasque, Du Cubism à L'Art Abstrait: un Catalogue de l'Oeuvre de Robert Delaunay, Paris, 1957, no. 175, p. 278
Gérald Gassiot-Talabot, Cimaise, "Les Sources du XXème Siècle", 1961, p. 31

Condition

Although this painting is not lined and has most likely never been cleaned, at some point during its history the canvas was removed from its stretcher and some creases and paint losses were made. As a result some broad and sloppy retouches were added which became noticeably discolored, particularly in the center and the lower center. Instead of attempting to remove these old retouches, which would have been damaging to the original paint layer, we lightly glazed the most obviously discolored retouches and in an effort to reduce their disturbing impact. This retouching has been applied conservatively yet throughout the picture. In our opinion this is the best approach to the conservation and perhaps a few more could be applied to further eliminate earlier paint losses. This report has been kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation.
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

Delaunay spent much of the First World War in Portugal with his wife Sonia, first in Vila do Count, near Oporto and then in Valença do Minho, when they resided until 1918. Robert had a medical condition which prevented him from active duty; this also suited  his (and his wife, Sonia's) commitment to pacifism.  This was a period of calm for both artists, spent away from Paris, where Delaunay had found such inspiration from the artistic foment of the day, and was at the forefront of the Orphism movement.

In Portugal, he continued to paint actively, and undertook new developments, inspired as he was by the simple life in his new surroundings, which he described as 'violent contrasts of colored marks, women's clothing, striking shawls of delicious, metallic greens, watermelons. Forms and colors: women disappearing in mountains of pumpkins, vegetables, enchanting markets' (quoted by P. Francastel in Robert Delaunay, Du cubisme à l'art abstrait, Paris, 1957, p. 127).

The Portugaise works were of great importance in that they serve to underline Delaunay's development towards an art in which color and design are on equal footing in the conception of the work as a whole, anticipating his later and purely abstract Rythmes series.  The present work closely related in subject and composition to a major painting done in wax at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, in Madrid, which portrays the same figure, wearing her distinctive flowered shawl, who seems bent in concentration, balancing two enormous abstracted pumpkins between her hands.

Fig. 1 Robert Delaunay, La grande portugaise, 1916, wax on canvas, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid