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JEAN DUFY (1888-1964) The Horsemen, 1927
Gouache and waterco…
See original version (French)
116
-
JEAN DUFY (1888-1964) The Horsemen, 1927
Gouache and waterco…
See original version (French)
Estimate €13,000 - €21,000
Voluntary lot
Description
JEAN DUFY (1888-1964)
The Horsemen, 1927
Gouache and watercolour on paper
Signed and dated '[19]27' lower right
(Slightly yellowed and foxed)
53,5 x 47 cm - 21 x 18 1/2 in.
A certificate of authenticity from Mr Jacques Bailly, dated 18 May 2026, will be given to the buyer.
Gouache and watercolor on paper, signed and dated '[19]27' lower right
Provenance :
Private collection, France
Commentary:
"The importance of light", said Jean Dufy. We must add "colour as language".
A language of purity, nobility and strength for white, often reserved for clowns, horses and athletes. Against a powerful chromatic backdrop - red, blue and black - in keeping with the tension and apprehension that generally accompany acrobatic acts, a few light brushstrokes, with a serpentine appearance, underline in white the extended bodies of the Trapézistes (cat. B.532).
This taste for colour and homage to the colour white reach their apotheosis in a large painting from 1927 entitled Le cirque (cat. B.464), a work in which the glory of the horse is magnificently expressed. The circus is deprived of its circular stage in favour of a wide space where the horses move about, mounted or unmounted, each according to their act. In the centre, a red-clad ringmaster rears up a pair of white horses, behind which stand three other blood-red and anthracite horses. All around, other Haute Ecole horses encircle the sumptuous pair. The audience, seated on the bleachers in the shadows, is modest as the stage is bathed in the full glare of the spotlights, written in multiple off-whites, yellows, bright reds, oranges and turquoise blues.
The strong complementary tones clash with the light ones in an uneven material, sometimes transparent, sometimes heavy, releasing the desired intensity and rhythm throughout the canvas.
In this work, Jean Dufy suspends time and invites the viewer to contemplate.
In the bottom left-hand corner, the signature-writing.
In the bottom right-hand corner, the white clown with a guitar. Another signature.
Jacques Bailly and Marie-Caroline Sainsaulieu [preface by], Jean Dufy (1888-1964), Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre, Volume I, Paris: Éditions Jacques Bailly, pp. 36 and 38.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
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