ALBERT MARQUET | Pont de Blackfriars, Londres

Galerie Druet, Paris (acquired from the artist in February 1908)
Private Collection, France
Galerie Druet, Paris (acquired in 1911)
Jean-Albert Grégoire, Switzerland
Sale: Guy Loudmer, Paris, June 21, 1993, lot 34
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Salon d'Automne, 1907, no. 1748
Paris, Galerie Druet, Marquet, 1910, no. 48

Marcel Giry, Le Fauvisme, Neuchâtel, 1981, illustrated p. 202

The canvas is lined. There is some very light frame abrasion along the lower edge. There is one nailhead sized area of pigment loss along the right lower edge, beneath the signature. Under UV inspection, there a few fine strokes of inpainting along the left half of the upper edge, and a few extremely fine pindot strokes of inpainting in the sky. The work is in overall very 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.
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.

Unusual among his contemporaries, Albert Marquet was actively encouraged by his family to pursue a career in painting. He enrolled in the École national des arts décoratifs in 1892 where he became acquainted with Henri Matisse. Later, during his time at the École des Beaux-Arts, he met Henri Manguin and Charles Camoin. Together these artists would go on to form the Fauve movement, which took the Parisian art world by storm at the 1905 Salon d'Automne, where critic Louis Vauxcelles' disapproving description of their daringly colorful work as the output of "les fauves"—wild beasts—gave the group their revolutionary moniker. 

Painted at the height of Marquet's Fauve period, Pont de Blackfriars, Londres is one of a series of London cityscapes that he made throughout his career. Marquet's serial exploration of views of the city directly echoes the Impressionists' atmospheric urban landscapes. His interest in depicting the Thames, in particular, is illustrative of his lifelong affinity for bodies of water. During his well-traveled career, Marquet and his easel regularly gravitated toward such locations, from the ports of Rotterdam to the coastlines of North Africa to settlements along the Bosphorus.

This work is accompanied by an Attestation of Inclusion from the Wildenstein Institute, and it will be included in the forthcoming Marquet Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.