Expressionist Fauvist Forest View, Follower of Raoul Dufy

1940s

French Impressionist oil on board of a wooded landscape presented in a period carved wood gilt and patinated frame with trade label to the reverse for a gallery in Grenoble. A charm...

A French Expressionist oil on canvas landscape of countryside at L'Olivette, Cap d'Antibes on the French Riviera, by Germain Bonel. The painting is signed bottom right and signed, dated and titled to the back of the canvas. A strong and impactful composition of the trees and forest leading down to the sea wall and then the Mediterranean beyond at the Port (or 'Abri' as it is also known) of l'Olivette on the west coast of Cap d'Antibes, the iconic location in the South of France. This former small traditional fishing port from the beginning of the twentieth century is now converted into a picturesque little marina on Cap d'Antibes, with its rocky cove, its beach, its pine forest, its umbrella pines, olive trees, fig trees, and agaves and its famous 'Villa Aujourd'hui' a modernist residence built by American architect Barry Dierks (1899-1960) in 1938 for socialite Mrs. Audrey Chadwick. L'Olivette has a privileged panoramic view of the Gulf of Juan, and the coastal shores of Cap d'Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Golfe-Juan, and the Pointe Croisette of Cannes. Germain Bonel (5 August 1913 – 2002) was a French painter of Catalan origin. From 1967 to 1983, he was a professor of drawing and painting at the Perpignan School of Fine Arts. From 1969 to 1978, he also taught art in the schools of Saint-Cyprien-village and Saint-Cyprien-Plage. Germain Bonel's painting is both expressionist and decorative. Georges-Henry Gourrier said of him: "Germain Bonel's painting expresses [quite naturally] the singular beauty of forms, the radiant force of colour, the deepening of matter and the tenderness of the things of life. His work appears to be a painting of plenitude." From 1941 to 1945, Germain Bonel studied drawing at the Municipal School of Fine Arts in Perpignan. He won first prize in 1945. Out of competition, he continued his studies at the same school from 1945 to 1948 and he regularly exhibited his works at the annual exhibition held at the Salle Arago in Perpignan. Germain Bonel met François Desnoyer in 1950 and introduced him to the Catalan artistic milieu. He was admitted to the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1951 and exhibited until 1961, when he became a member of the salon. As early as 1951 a commentary said, "with the canvas hanging...

Vibrant fauvist landscape of redwood trees titled "Forest Wonder" by John Stenvall (American, 1907- 1998), 1993. Signed lower left corner. Presented in g...