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Premium DE BAECQUE et Associés - Paris

72 - Collaborative work by members of the ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL A…
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Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
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Description
Collaborative work by members of the ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION including Mary ADSHEAD (1904-1995), Stephen BONE (1904-1958), Nan YOUNGMAN (1906-1995), Betty REA (1904-1965), Clifford ROWE (1904-1989), Elisabeth WATSON (1906-1955), Edith SIMON (1917-2003) and Helen SAMPSON (1885-1976) Map of Île-de-Ré, decoration for the Oasis guest house, 1938 Oil and black pencil on two panels, signed, framing mouldings and reinforcements on reverse. H. 100 cm - W. 350 cm (overall) Attached is a set of archives relating to the Oasis guesthouse, including photographs of Madame Hyan and her daughter Carmen, an account book and a three-page typescript entitled "Extracts from some letters from English guests in 1938 and 1939", containing in particular accounts of the stays of Clifford Rowe (1904-1989) and Yvonne Kapp, alias Yvonne Cloud (1903-1999). Provenance : - Maurice Joseph (1885- 1974) and Madeleine (1886- 1989) HYAN, owners of the pension l'Oasis in Bois-Plage-en-Ré (Île-de-Ré). - Carmen HYAN (1912-2004), daughter of the previous owners. - Private collection, France, inherited from the previous owner. Bibliography : Lynda MORRIS and Robert RADFORD, "AIA, the story of the Artists International Association, 1933-1953", Oxford, Museum of Modern Art, 1983, p. 51 (repr.). The work presented here is a record of a short-lived colony of British intellectuals from the Artists International Association who went on holiday to the Île-de-Ré in the summer of 1938. The decoration, painted by several hands, adorned their boarding house "L'Oasis", where they spent their last carefree summer before the outbreak of the Second World War. The Artists International Association (AIA) was a British arts organisation founded in 1933 amid rising political tensions in Europe. It brought together committed artists wishing to put their practice at the service of social and political causes, in particular the fight against fascism and support for the workers' movement. AIA was distinguished by its ambition to make art accessible to a broad public, by organising exhibitions, conferences and open events, often with an educational vocation. Through its activities, it played an important role in disseminating engaged art in the UK, encouraging exchanges between artists and strengthening the links between artistic creation and social awareness. The AIA was active until 1953, when its organisation and objectives changed, abandoning its communist sympathies and refocusing on the organisation of cultural events until around 1957. In 1938, the AIA took part in the organisation of a famous exhibition in London entitled "Twentieth Century German Art", the aim of which was to welcome German artists who had been persecuted by the Nazi regime and its theory of "degenerate art". At the same time, as part of its social role, the association was keen to organise holidays for its members: a colony of British artists from the AIA went on holiday to Le Bois-Plage on the Île-de-Ré. The Hyan family owned a guesthouse in the village of Bois-Plage. Maurice Joseph Hyan, accompanied by his wife Madeleine and daughter Carmen, welcomed holidaymakers to their establishment, which also had a souvenir shop. Among the AIA members who made it their home were Mary Adshead and her husband Stephen Bone, Clifford Rowe, Edith Simon, Betty Rea and Nan Youngman. During the summer of 1938, the Oasis became a holiday destination for politically committed British artists. Our large set reflects the atmosphere of this happy colony: the verses of their hymn evoke the young Carmen Hyan, then aged 26, "who is much better than most of the barmen", and her portrait also appears in the centre of the composition, behind her counter. The clichés of the Île-de-Ré also appear: a cheeky donkey (the farmers of the Île-de-Ré used to put "trousers" on their donkeys to protect them from insect bites and salt), bike rides, the beach, bus trips and the Bois-Plage bell tower. Politics is never far away with the idyllic depiction of the communist Henri Barbusse colony, which took in the children of Spanish Republican refugees on the island. The many signatures on this large decorative panel bear witness to the number of artists and AIA supporters who worked together to decorate the Oasis. They are mischievously scattered throughout the composition: the name of the painter Stephen Bone (who accompanied his wife Mary Adshead and their eldest son) appears in the exhaust tail of a holiday bus, Nan Youngman discreetly signed the cherub flying the English and French flags, and the name of Clifford Rowe appears on one of the baskets of salt carried by a farmer. The children of these artists are not to be outdone, as is the case of Nicolas Rea (1928-2020) - son of the sculptor Betty Rea and future doctor and politician - then aged 10, whose name appears on the stern of the boat sailing at the top right of the composition. Finally, the verses mention the figure of Yvonne Kapp, alias Yvonne Cloud (1903-1999), a committed writer and member of the Communist Party. Among the archives of the Oasis boarding house is her testimony to the Hyan couple following that summer of 1938: "Dear Mr Hyan, ... We still talk a lot about you, the Île-de-Ré and our happy days there. Believe me, with all the troubles we're going through and the nasty situation we're facing (Munich, threats of war). These memories of the summer are a great (sic) relief to me, even if it seems to have been in another life. "The Oasis! How aptly named!". Only documented by a black and white photograph taken around 1938 by Edith Simon and published in the 1983 exhibition catalogue at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, our décor had never been exhibited until now. It remained in the Hyan family until Carmen's death in 2004, when she bequeathed it to her executor. It is a true testimony to the last carefree years of a generation of English artists and intellectuals politically committed to opposing the rise of fascism in twentieth-century Europe.
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About the sale PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES - ASIAN ART - JEWELLERY - FURNITURE AND OBJETS D'ART
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Auction time 06/06/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures modified on 05/18/2026 at 5:45 PM
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