André Derain

John Quinn, New York (sold: his sale, American Art Association, New York, February 11, 1927, lot 311, titled The Red Boat)  
Valentine Gallery, New York
E. V. Thaw Gallery, New York
B. C. Holland Gallery, Chicago
Acquired from the above in 1982

Fairmount, Pennsylvania Museum of Art (on loan)
Richmond, Virginia Museum of Art (on loan)

Executed on cream colored laid paper. Affixed with tape to a mount in approximately eight places around edges. Edges of the sheet are deckled and slightly creased, with two slightly more pronounced creases extending from lower left. Some minor surface dirt, especially at upper left and lower right corners. The pigments are slightly faded, especially in lower right quadrant. Some scattered foxing, mainly in the areas of the sheet that are without pigment. There are several tiny nicks and tears to the sheet at the edges. The colors are bright and fresh and the work is in good condition overall.
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.

This remarkable work was likely executed before the historic exhibition of Fauve paintings at the Salon d'Automne where the group first acquired the name by which it is still known. While the primary focus of his work was on landscape during this crucial period, Derain's range of interests went far beyond the stylistic concerns that he shared with Matisse and Vlaminck. Having met Guillaume Apollinaire in 1904, he frequented neo-Symbolist circles and, simultaneously with his landscapes, worked on two monumental allegorical subjects, L'Age d'or (Museum of Modern Art, Teheran) and La danse.   

Denys Sutton noted: "Derain turned to classical antiquity, to Ovid's Metamorphoses – that vast treasure house of iconology that had appealed to Raphael, Titian, and Rubens as well as to many others, and, in doing so, he reverted to a tradition which, quite recently in France, had been followed by Bonnard, Maurice Denis and K. X. Roussel" (Denys Sutton, André Derain, 1959, p.15).

In the present work, the depiction of a boatman with his long oar evokes Charon, who ferried passengers across the river Styx.  Michelangelo and Dante's fascination with this figure from Greek myth certainly may have fueled Derain's use of allegorical themes at that time.  What is remarkable about the work, however, is the inventive manner in which he has evoked his Classical theme: the two opposing images in the upper register of the work offer a stark contrast between the boat's possible destinations: angels singing on the left hand side, and the roiling mass of either serpents or a gathering storm on the right.  

This work was in the renowned collection of John Quinn (1870-1924), one of the greatest patrons of modernism in literature and the visual arts, whose collection, titled "Modern and Ultra-Modern Art" was dispersed at auction in 1927.  It is likely that the inscription, "Pour André Derain, Alice Derain" was written by the artist's wife, as she was known to sign her husband's works that she sold while the artist was in the army during World War I.

André Derain, circa 1904  Photo archives of G. Taillade