Kees van Dongen

Private Collection, France (acquired before 1960)
Thence by descent to the present owner

The canvas is not lined. There do not appear to be any traces of retouching visible under UV light. A few small fly spots to the sky, the varnish has yellowed and could benefit from a light clean. The impasto is rich in areas, the colours fresh and this work is in overall very good condition.
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Kees van Dongen came from humble origins, born in 1877 in a small suburb of Rotterdam. Shortly after arriving in Paris in 1900 however, he quickly achieved immense popularity for his Fauve figure paintings and received commissions from many members of Parisian high society. He soon developed a reputation for enjoying night life, cabarets, and the leisure activities of the wealthy; he visited Italy, Spain, Morocco and the South of France where he immersed himself in the favourite pastimes of the upper class. By the 1920s, when Les Courses à Clairefontaine was painted, Van Dongen had become renowned for depicting the Parisian upper class enjoying their leisure time. The artist had recently been introduced to this world through his friend Léa Jacob, otherwise known as Jasmy, and quickly became immersed in the extravagant parties and social events of the Paris elite. One of the subjects that caught his attention was the race track, and Les Courses à Clairefontaine depicts the spectacle of the event.

Les Courses à Clairefontaine is a colourful example of the social events that became the subject of van Dongen's late compositions. Like his contemporary Raoul Dufy, who also painted this subject, van Dongen focuses on the energetic atmosphere of the event, when the jockeys, thoroughbreds and the well-dressed spectators mill about in the moments just before or after the race. Critics praised Van Dongen for his use of colour in these pictures, which he used to enhance the perspective of these scenes.

Van Dongen also adds intriguing element of portraiture to the present work. The seated man towards the left with his prominently displayed monocle is none other than Evander Berry Wall (1861-1940), a celebrated figure of the wealthy international jet set who was known as ‘King of the Dudes’ due to his love of distinctive attire. American born Wall’s sartorial feats were legendary: for a bet in August 1888, he changed his clothes an astonishing forty times in one day. Wall and his wife moved to France in 1912, where they proceeded to live a life of unalloyed pleasure seeking. Wall frequently attended racing events, which were one of his greatest indulgences, and owned a stable of race horses. Van Dongen and his wife Marie-Claire became friends with Wall, and the artist painted his portrait in 1939.