Early 1900s Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Botanical watercolour and gouache on paper circa 1920 by French fauvist painter Raoul Dufy. The work depicts flowers in red, blue and green. This work was executed by Dufy as a fabric design. Dimensions: Framed: 19.5"x19.5" Unframed: 12"x12" Provenance: Private collection of works by Raoul Dufy for Bianchini Ferier Bianchini Ferrier Collection - Christie's London - July 2001 SF Fall Show Raoul Dufy was one of a family of nine children, including five sisters and a younger brother, Jean Dufy, also destined to become a painter. Their father was an accountant in the employ of a major company in Le Havre. The Dufy family was musically gifted: his father was an organist, as was his brother Léon, and his youngest brother Gaston was an accomplished flautist who later worked as a music critic in Paris. Raoul Dufy's studies were interrupted at the age of 14, when he had to contribute to the family income. He took a job with an importer of Brazilian coffee, but still found time from 1892 to attend evening courses in drawing and composition at the local college of fine arts under Charles Marie Lhullier, former teacher of Othon Friesz and Georges Braque. He spent his free time in museums, admiring the paintings of Eugène Boudin in Le Havre and The Justice of Trajan in Rouen. A municipal scholarship enabled him to leave for Paris in 1900, where he lodged initially with Othon Friesz. He was accepted by the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied under Léon Bonnat, whose innate conservatism prompted Dufy to remark later that it was 'good to be at the Beaux-Arts providing one knew one could leave'. And leave he did, four years later, embarking with friends and fellow students on the rounds of the major Paris galleries - Ambroise Vollard, Durand-Ruel, Eugène Blot and Berheim-Jeune. For Dufy and his contemporaries, Impressionism represented a rejection of sterile academism in favour of the open-air canvases of Manet, the light and bright colours of the Impressionists, and, beyond them, the daringly innovative work of Gauguin and Van Gogh, Seurat, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. Dufy was an out-and-out individualist, however, and was not tempted to imitate any of these artists. He produced, between 1935 and 1937, Fée Electricité (Spirit of Electricity), the emblem for the French utilities company Electricité de France (EDF). Dufy visited the USA for the first time in 1937, as a member of the Carnegie Prize jury. In 1940, the outbreak of war (and his increasingly rheumatic condition) persuaded him to settle in Nice. When he eventually returned to Paris 10 years later, his rheumatism had become so debilitating that he immediately left for Boston to follow a course of pioneering anti-cortisone treatment. He continued working, however, spending time first in Harvard and then in New York City before moving to the drier climate of Tucson, Arizona. The cortisone treatment was by and large unsuccessful, although he did recover the use of his fingers. He returned to Paris in 1951 and decided to settle in Forcalquier, where the climate was more clement. Within a short time, however, he was wheelchair-bound. He died in Forcalquier in March 1953 and was buried in Cimiez. Between 1895 and 1898, Raoul Dufy painted watercolours of landscapes near his native Le Havre and around Honfleur and Falaise. By the turn of the century, however, he was already painting certain subjects that were to become hallmarks of his work - flag-decked Parisian cityscapes, Normandy beaches teeming with visitors, regattas and the like, including one of his better-known early works, Landing Stage at Ste-Adresse. By 1905-1906 Friesz, Braque, Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck, Van Dongen and Rouault were described collectively as Fauves (the wild beasts). What they had in common was a desire to innovate, but they felt constrained nonetheless to meet formally to set out the guiding principles of what promised to be a new 'movement'. Dufy quickly established that those principles were acceptable; moreover, he was most impressed by one particular painting by Henri Matisse ( Luxury, Calm and Voluptuousness) which, to Dufy, embodied both novelty and a sense of artistic freedom. Dufy promptly aligned himself with the Fauves. Together with Albert Marquet in particular, he spent his time travelling the Normandy coast and painting views similar...

This captivating floral artwork "Summer blooming flowers in a blue vase" is an exuberant portrayal of a bouquet, radiating vibrancy and textural complexity. The piece commands attention with its vigorous brushstrokes, creating a sense of movement and depth. The bouquet is composed of blooming flowers in a rich palette of colors ranging from various shades of pinks and purples to luminous whites. Each flower is rendered with bold, gestural layers of paint, creating a tactile surface that invites the viewer to appreciate the artist’s dynamic technique. The background, with its harmonious blend of cool blues and popping greens, forms a vivid contrast against the warm tones of the flowers, enhancing their visual impact. Noteworthy is the blue-checkered vase...

White Iris & Spring Flowers Bouquet, Mid Century Floral Still Life Beautiful mid century floral watercolor still life of a bouquet with white irises and other blooming flowers by H...

'The Terrace', watercolour on art paper, by Maurice Savin (circa 1950s). An inviting scene from the South of France depicts a quiet sun terrace on a balmy day with azure skies. The v...

I have worked on a new series of small oil paintings. This is the one of them. This series is dedicated to the scenes of everyday life. This painting is called "Two avocados". Thi...

I have worked on a new series of small oil paintings. This is the one of them. This series is dedicated to the scenes of everyday life. This pain...

'Desert Flower', gouache on coloured paper, by Pierre Roy (circa 1930s). The artist has skilfully captured the beautiful white flowers extending from the ma...

A. Derek Ching (American, 20th Century) created this stunning, colorful cubist still life gouache on paper painting. With lovely fall colors, this subtle still-life composition featu...

This is a beautiful and highly decorative watercolor painting, featuring a charming garden scene filled with pink and white hollyhocks alongside blooming roses. Nestled among the del...

I have worked on a new series of small oil paintings. This is the one of them. This series is dedicated to the scenes of everyday life. This painting is called "Just bananas". This...

Expressionist ink and pastel crayon drawing of flowers in vase. Framed in a vintage cobalt blue glass original frame Hand signed and dated Framed it measures 13.5 X 10.5 The actual ...