MAURICE DE VLAMINCK | Vase de fleurs

William C. Kennedy, New York
Reader's Digest, New York (acquired from the above on November 26, 1956 and sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 16, 1998, lot 26)
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 9, 2007, lot 248)
Acquired at the above sale

New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., The Reader's Digest Collection, 1963, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue
Tokyo, Palaceside Building, Forty Paintings from The Reader's Digest Collection, 1966, no. 38
New York, Wildenstein & Co., Inc. & traveling, Selections from The Reader's Digest Collection, 1985-86, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue
Auckland, Auckland City Gallery, The Reader's Digest Collection: Manet to Picasso, 1989, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue

This work is in good condition. The canvas is unlined. The edges have been reinforced with tape. Some extremely minor areas of paint shrinkage. The surface is nicely textured, most notably in the flowers. Two small dents to the surface in the center register. The varnish is slightly discolored in the whitest pigments. Under UV light: some possible strokes of inpainting along the upper and left edges and top right corner. A varnish makes the surface slightly difficult to read through.
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.

Vlaminck gained notoriety as an artist when he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1905. The critic Louis Vauxcelles had seen a small Florentine style sculpture surrounded by the work of Camoin, Derain, Marquet, Matisse and Vlaminck in room 7 and wrote that it was like seeing a Donatello surrounded by wild beasts, or "fauves." These artists further advanced the color experimentation and the simplification of form of their Post-Impressionist predecessors, creating compositions that were shocking in their radiance and dynamic in their liveliness of brushwork. Color, in short, was completely set free and moved from a vehicle of naturalistic representation to a mode of emotive expression.

Strongly influenced by van Gogh, whom he venerated, Vlaminck's Fauve canvases were stridently colored and boldly executed to such an extent that in 1907, the year of his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Vollard, he was christened "the wildest of the Fauves." Shortly afterward, however, Vlaminck would abandon the excesses of his Fauve manner in favor of a more subdued approach strongly influenced by Cézanne. The master of Aix was, of course, a major source of inspiration for many artists at the time. Rather than follow Cézanne's innovations to their logical conclusions, Vlaminck used Cézanne's example as a restraining device, reigning in the gestural audacities and coloristic excesses of his Fauve years. Painted at this very moment, the present picture is thus a transitional work, highlighting the vibrancy of the artist's Fauve palette in the color flower buds against a muted Cézannian backdrop. 

Vase de fleurs once formed part of the Reader's Digest Collection, begun in the early 1940s by Lila Acheson Wallace, who co-founded the magazine with her husband, DeWitt, in 1922. Committed to creating a more visually pleasing and intellectually stimulating work environment, Mrs. Wallace acquired over 8,000 French Impressionist and early Modern works to form one of the first corporate collections in the world. 

This work will be included in the forthcoming Vlaminck digital database, being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc..