RIK WOUTERS | Femme devant le camp de Zeist

Nel Wouters (the artist's widow)
Jean Vanderlinden, Brasschaat (acquired from the above)
Philippe Vanderlinden, Brasschaat
Thence by descent to the present owner

Mechelen, Salle des fêtes, Rik Wouters, 1946, no. 71 (traveling exhibition to Rotterdam, Boymans & The Hague, Gemeente Museum, no. 73)
Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Retrospectieve Rik Wouters, 1957, no 135

Roger Avermaete, Rik Wouters, Brussels, 1962, listed p. 222

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, set between the glass and the backing board. There is tape on the verso along the four edges. The sheet is light stained. There is a pinhole to the lower left corner. The sheet is slightly undulating. There are some scattered dots of foxing. 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."

Rik Wouters was a talented artist skilled as much in the domains of drawing and sculpture as he was in painting. He was above all self-taught and learnt his technique helping his father in the family studio, sculpting the typical wooden furniture of Malines, his native town. His first real training began at the age of fifteen when he enrolled in the evening classes of the Academy of Malines, attending classes in drawing from antique works, a practice that would accompany him throughout his creative process. If Rik Wouters' original training was in sculpture and drawing, the latter led him towards painting in which he would later excel.

Wouters never stopped drawing, using quick strokes of the pencil to capture the intimate moments of everyday life. His intense creativity also reveals his poverty, as he was often obliged to draw on both sides of the paper due to his lack of material. This method of working, linked with a scarcity of materials, means that many drawings are works in themselves on both sides of the paper. This need to depict his environment on paper intensified in 1904 when Nel (Hélène Duerinckx) became his model, his muse and his companion.

Most of the works on paper presented in this auction pay tribute to her: Nel sitting, Nel in the kitchen, Nel with her cat, Nel lying down, Nel naked, Nel reading a newspaper, Nel in front of the Zeist camp... The carnal and aesthetic relationship of lovers that existed between Wouters and Nel evokes other great love affairs across the history of art: Picasso and Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot or Jacqueline Roque, Modigliani and Jeanne Hebuterne... The fluidity of Wouters' ink drawings recall Japanese artwork very much in fashion in Belgium, as in Europe, at the beginning of the 20th century.

Similarly, the fluidity of his watercolours and ink drawings on paper, evident in L'Etang à Boitsfort and Femme devant le camp de Zeist, demonstrate the influence this technique had on his paintings. The early canvases were painted in thick impasto laid on with the knife, a method that he simplified and improved by incorporating the technique of light washes taken from watercolour. Drawing thus led Wouters on the path to Fauvism of which he became one of the most personal and intimate masters, as confirmed by this important series of works on paper.

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Olivier Bertrand and it will be included in the Catalogue raisonné des Œuvres sur papier de Rik Wouters.