Galerie Dreyfus
58
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ALBERT MARQUET (BORDEAUX, 1875 – PARIS, 1947)
Avenue de Vers…
See original version (French)
58
-
ALBERT MARQUET (BORDEAUX, 1875 – PARIS, 1947)
Avenue de Vers…
See original version (French)
Estimate €220,000 - €280,000
Voluntary lot
Description
ALBERT MARQUET
(BORDEAUX, 1875 – PARIS, 1947)
Avenue de Versailles
1904
Fauvist period
Oil on canvas
65 x 81 cm.
Signed lower right
Certificate from the Wildenstein Institute
Publication
Work listed in the Catalogue raisonné of the works of Albert Marquet by
Jean-Claude Martinet & Guy Wildenstein, Wildenstein Institute, Paris, 2001.
A vast perspective cuts diagonally across the painting, inviting us to follow
the course of this avenue and search in vain for its end. Indeed, the avenue seems
to disappear entirely into the canvas in a fade where forms and colours gradually
lose their substance. The brushwork is delicate; the filigree-like silhouettes of the buildings lining
the only visible side of this avenue are discernible only by their windows and their
grey gables. The façades are as light in colour as the ground… The only splashes of colour are the orange roofs and
the yellow-ochre foliage of the trees, which are already losing their leaves; it is autumn. The brushwork
is very prominent; the pavement is now nothing more than a yellow line of varying thickness. The great
economy of means with which Marquet depicts this Parisian autumn evening here is
characteristic of his sensitive and delicate style. Already the shadows of the buildings on the left,
invisible, are lengthening, streaking the avenue with dark bands. The painter was probably
painting from a window on one of these buildings to capture these final hours of the afternoon.
Albert Marquet (1875–1947) was a French landscape painter. In 1905, he took part in the
‘Fauves’ exhibition alongside his friends Matisse and Derain. Sensitive to how colours are rendered according to
variations in light, he painted numerous series on the same subject depending on the
time of day, the seasons and the weather. Thus he chose Paris as his favourite subject.
His views of Paris date from this ‘Fauvist’ period, where the pared-back composition reflects his
chromatic explorations. Colour constructs the space. After the First World War, he
travelled to the Maghreb, discovering the light of North Africa, as well as to Belgium and the
Netherlands, developing a fondness for harbours and seascapes. He met Signac, with whom he enjoyed
painting. In 1939, he settled on the banks of the Seine at La Frette, to paint at his leisure the river
he loved so much. Many of his views of the Seine date from this final retreat, bearing witness to his
talent for depicting water in its various forms—whether dense or transparent—thanks to a
highly sensitive appreciation of light reflections.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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