拉烏爾·杜飛

Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 18th November 1925, lot 80

Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris

Paul Poiret, Paris

Robert Kahn-Sriber, Paris  (sold: Sotheby’s, London, 1st July 1975, lot 14)

Sale: Sotheby’s, London, 18th May 1983, lot 68

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Marcelle Berr de Turique, Raoul Dufy, Paris, 1930, illustrated p. 39

Marcel Drion, Raoul Dufy, Peintures et Aquarelles, Cologne, 1959, no. 11, illustrated

Maurice Lafaille, Raoul Dufy, catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint de 1895 à 1915, Geneva, 1972, vol. I, no. 151, illustrated p. 134; illustrated in colour p. 135

The canvas is lined. There are a few crease lines in the canvas which appear to be intrinsic to the support. Apart from a small area of retouching towards the upper right edge, visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although overall slightly fresher, and the whites of the women's clothes are cleaner and less yellow in the original.
"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."

Painted in 1907, Les Regattes à Trouville is a remarkable example of the Fauve style Dufy developed in the first decade of the twentieth century. Alive with the atmosphere and excitement of a day at the seaside, Dufy has evoked the windy conditions in the full sails of the ships and the dramatically clouded sky. The dynamic brushwork and striking palette of vivid oranges and reds he used for the beach provide a striking contrast with the cooler, green hues of the sea. The artist himself said of his paintings of this period:  ‘I had previously painted beaches in the manner of the Impressionists, and had reached saturation point, realizing that this method of copying nature was leading me off into infinity, with its twists and turns and its most subtle and fleeting details. I myself was standing outside the picture. Having arrived at some beach subject or other I would sit down and start looking at my tubes of paint and my brushes. How, using these things, could I succeed in conveying not what I see, but that which is, that which exists for me, my reality? […] From that day onwards, I was unable to return to my barren struggles with the elements that were visible to my gaze. It was no longer possible to show them in their external form’ (quoted in Dora Perez-Tibi, Dufy, London, 1989, pp. 22-23).

In 1905 Dufy visited the seminal Salon des Indépendants, and saw Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck’s contributions, after which his own art changed dramatically. During the summer of the following year, Dufy travelled in the company of Albert Marquet along the Normandy coast, each artist exploring in his own way the expressive potential of colour and form evoked by the scenes they encountered in the popular resorts of Le Havre and Sainte-Adresse. This highly productive trip confirmed Dufy’s place amongst the Fauves, and the artistic significance of the Norman coastline within his œuvre. As Alvin Martin and Judi Freeman wrote: 'What distinguished the work of the Fauves from Le Havre (Dufy, Friesz and Braque [fig. 2]) from that of Matisse and company was the treatment of surface and colour. Whereas the Norman artists have been steadfastly loyal to the Impressionist approach to painting, Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck and the others borrowed extensively from the far more audacious generation that succeeded the Impressionists. The Norman Fauves found irresistible the full-blown Fauve manner of painting, characterized by highly saturated colour and the laying in of brilliant tones side by side, and they inevitably responded to it in their own work, produced back in their native Normandy' (A. Martin & J. Freeman, 'The Distant Cousins in Normandy: Braque, Dufy and Friesz', in The Fauve Landscape, New York, 1990, pp. 221-22).

The seaside towns that dotted the Norman coastline with their casinos, promenades and regattas, appealed to Dufy and his sense of occasion (figs. 1 & 2). The joyful assembly of parasol-carrying women and boater-hatted men watching boats racing in the present work is typical of the artist’s Fauve-period work. As Martin and Freeman have noted: ‘Painting Honfleur and Trouville, just across the estuary [from Le Havre], gave Dufy a chance to reinterpret, not reinvent, the sites so favoured by Monet, Boudin, and others’ (A. Martin & J. Freeman, ibid., p. 222). This reinvention was partly managed by the inclusion of the tourist amenities that had been established in the towns. The Impressionists had wilfully excised these prosaic elements to make their compositions more idyllic; Dufy’s bill-boards and bunting underwrite the modernity of his lively paintings.

An early owner of the present work was Paul Poiret, a fashion designer and devoted collector of Dufy’s work. In 1911 Dufy was asked by Poiret to design some fabric for his celebrated dresses. Poiret’s clothes became the foundation for the modern shape and style of women’s fashion, paving the way for Chanel and Schiaparelli. Dufy’s work as a fabric designer was an important addition to his painted work, providing him with additional income and new acquaintances. He helped Poiret to organise grand parties at his Hôtel de la Couture on the Fauborg Saint-Honoré and his hunting lodge at Versailles. Discussing the relationship between the artist and the designer Sarah Wilson wrote: ‘In Poiret he had found a patron and a prince of patrons. […] Dufy’s new role as courtier and preparer of fêtes and banquets was to have lasting influence.’ (S. Wilson in Raoul Dufy (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London, 1983, p. 74).