Henri Manguin

Private Collection, Lausanne (acquired directly from the artist in 1918)
Sale: Galerie Koller, Zurich, 22nd June 1975, lot 3105
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Marie-Caroline Sainsaulieu, Henri Manguin, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Neuchâtel, 1980, no. 585, illustrated p. 211

The canvas is lined. UV examination reveals a 10 by 10cm L-shaped area of retouching which corresponds to a previous repaired tear towards the lower left corner. There are a few scattered fly spots in places, mainly to the upper half of the composition, and this work would benefit from a clean. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Charles Terrasse writes that ‘a painting by Manguin is a concert of strong colors in which a true red dominates red-oranges, purple violets, deep blues, dark greens, and golden yellows. Lines, shapes, everything is strong. Everything is striking. It is an exalted painting that warms the heart and gives joy’ (in Jean-Louis Ferrier, The Fauves: The Reign of Colour, Paris, 1992, p. 132). Manguin’s distinctive style arose following the death of Gustave Moreau, the beloved teacher of Manguin, Albert Marquet and Henri Matisse. The three young artists sought to pool their resources, constructing a makeshift studio in the garden of Manguin's home at 61 rue Boursault. The three worked together, intermittently hosting other avant-garde artists, and during the winter of 1904-05 hired a model from whom they each drew and painted from life. According to artist André Dunoyer de Segonzac, ‘The Three M's were talked about incessantly at the beginning of the century, three young men noted for the independence of their art. Matisse, Marquet, Manguin...’ (A. Segonzac in Pierre Cabane, Henri Manguin, 1964, p. 53). Painted in 1918, the present work evokes the strong Fauve palette used by the ‘Three M's a decade earlier. Incorporating vivid pinks, reds and green highlights, Manguin celebrates the sensual grace of the female nude; her Venus-like curves are accentuated by vibrant pigments and sumptuous patterns.  

Singled out as the strongest of a new crop of artists showing at the Salon d'automne in 1904 by the critic Louis Vauxcelles, Manguin, Marquet, Matisse and Camoin banded together. ‘The four of them worked that autumn with Jean Puy in Manguin's collapsible studio behind the apartment on the rue Boursault. Marquet and Manguin responded once again to Matisse's Divisionist enthusiasm: all three painted each other and their nude model with a gaiety and gusto that owed more to Luce's slapdash style as Divisionist than to Signac's rigor. Winter was the season of intrigue, cabals and furious lobbying behind the scenes as different art-world factions drummed up support on the various committees that would control who showed what and how at next year's exhibitions. Charles Guérin enlisted Matisse in December for the Salon d'Automne's planning meeting, instructing him to bring Manguin, Marquet and any other sympathizers he could muster’ (Hilary Spurling, The Unknown Matisse, A Life of Henri Matisse: The Early Years, 1869-1908, New York, 1998, p. 295). Writing of the three artists, Hilary Spurling notes, ‘The one lasting gain he (Matisse) brought away from the school was his alliance with two younger boys, Henri Manguin and Albert Marquet, who were the first close friends he made among painters outside his home circle. From now on the three worked side by side, swapping advice, criticizing and comparing their respective canvases, urging each other on, indoors and out, in Paris and on the Mediterranean coast, throughout the struggles that convulsed the French art world, and painting itself, in the years to leading up to and away from the Fauve summer of 1905’ (Hilary Spurling, The Unknown Matisse, A Life of Henri Matisse: The Early Years, 1869-1908, New York, 1998, p. 80).