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an image of a painting of a man reading a bookpainting of a man reading a book in a chair
Pierre Bergé & Associés

18 - Manuel ORTIZ DE ZARATE (CHILE-FRANCE/ 1887–1946) A convalesc…
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Estimate €400 - €600
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Description
Manuel ORTIZ DE ZARATE (CHILE-FRANCE/ 1887–1946) A convalescing soldier reading, 1914 Oil on original canvas Signed and indistinctly dated ‘Ortiz 14’ (top right) H_61 cm W_46 cm This previously unseen work is set against the pivotal moment of the outbreak of the First World War, to which it appears to be a direct, if not immediate, echo. The date given — ‘14’ — suggests the painting was executed at the very outset of the conflict, at a time when depictions of the wounded and convalescents were beginning to enter the artistic sphere, which was as yet largely unshaped by the war iconography that would later develop. The tightly framed, frontal composition isolates a seated male figure, absorbed in reading a book. The tilted head, downcast gaze and restrained hand gestures contribute to an economy of expression that emphasises interiority. The presence of a neck brace—an orthopaedic device attested to from this period—constitutes a decisive iconographic clue, suggesting a cervical injury resulting from a wound. The loose-fitting coat, rendered in a range of muted blues, plausibly evokes the capotes adopted by the French army from 1914 onwards. The ambiguity of the subject—between a military figure and an intellectual figure—is reinforced by the element of the book, which introduces a reflective and distanced dimension. In this respect, the work can be linked to the imagination of combatant or wounded writers, whose figure is gradually establishing itself in European culture, such as Guillaume Apollinaire, wounded in 1916, or Louis-Ferdinand Céline, whose experience at the front would later inform his literary work. Formally, the style is characterised by a vigorous synthesis of volumes, constructed through broad areas of colour and a sketchy, sometimes almost jagged, modelling. The visible, energetic brushstrokes are part of a Post-Impressionist aesthetic marked by the simplification of forms and a certain expressive tension. The palette, dominated by dark tones (browns, blacks, blues), is punctuated by lighter highlights on the face and hands, which concentrate the light and structure the reading of the image. The background, rendered indistinctly, helps to isolate the figure within a mental rather than a descriptive space. These stylistic characteristics are part of the explorations undertaken by Ortiz de Zárate in the 1910s, particularly in the Parisian context, where the artist was in contact with the avant-garde. The work reflects a personal assimilation of the lessons of Post-Impressionism and a sensitivity to modern issues of representation, where the human figure becomes the focus of an inquiry into subjectivity and the individual condition. Through its tension between historical referentiality and psychological interiority, this painting occupies a unique position at the crossroads of genre painting, portraiture and the representation of trauma. It constitutes a particularly interesting milestone in understanding early artistic responses to the experience of war, viewed not in its spectacular dimension, but in its silent repercussions on the individual. Expert: Thomas MORIN WILLIAMS - Expert: Thomas MORIN WILLIAMS
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About the sale Harmonie des siècles : Furniture, Paintings, Works of art
Auction location
Auction time 06/26/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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