Armenia - Still-life Paintings

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...

“People who love to eat are always the best people.” Julia Child This still life painting puts the spotlight on the dinner plate, a big part of our everyday lives. Emphasis is placed...

This outstanding post-cubist and multicolor geometric composition, gouache, and watercolor painting was designed by French artist André Morin (20th Century). Geometric art is the use...

A nicely detailed still life with flowers in a blue vase by French artist Eugene Henri Cauchois (1850-1911). Cauchois was born in Rouen, France, was a student of Duboe, Cabanel and Q...

Longing for Light [2020] Original Flowers Watercolour, gouache and gesso Image size: H:60 cm x W:47 cm Paper Size: H:64 cm x W:50.5 cm x D:0.1cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu...

Contemporary floral still life figurative gouache on paper painting by Polish artist Bozena Lesiak. Painting is in a small format. Bozena Lesiak's art embodies beauty of nature and i...

Rambling Rose by Jo Haran [2020] original Gouache, watercolour ink and gesso. Image size: H:72.5 cm x W:52.5 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:76 cm ...

Soft Blooms on Stems [2020] Original Flowers Watercolour, gouache and gesso Image size: H:67 cm x W:52.5 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:71 cm x W:56 cm x D:0.001cm Sold Unframe...

“People who love to eat are always the best people.” Julia Child This still life painting puts the spotlight on the dinner plate, a big part of our everyday lives. Emphasis is placed...

“People who love to eat are always the best people.” Julia Child This still life painting puts the spotlight on the dinner plate, a big part of our everyday lives. Emphasis is placed...

Dramatic and luxurious, Still Life with Grapes is a striking study of contrast, texture, and abundance. The deep blue-black grapes spill onto a delicate porcelain plate, their clustered forms exuding a natural opulence. The twisting vine, reaching upward like a sculptural relic, adds an element of wild elegance, while the surrounding leaves, tinged with autumnal hues, remind us of the inevitable change of seasons. Titorenkov’s exquisite use of light and shadow heightens the depth of this composition—the grapes shimmer under soft illumination, each one a study in transparency and reflection. The intricate blue patterns of the plate lend an air of timeless refinement, grounding the composition in a sense of tradition. Against the stark darkness of the background, the fruit and its organic details stand out with mesmerizing clarity. This painting is more than a depiction of fruit; it is a testament to nature’s richness, to the beauty of growth and decay, and to the fleeting, yet eternal, nature of the harvest. Still Life with Grapes speaks of abundance, nostalgia, and the simple pleasures of the earth’s bounty. This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. Artist bio: Born in 1963 in Kotel, Bulgaria, Alexander Titorenkov...