Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)(after)
NAME: Réception d'un amiral anglais sur un bateau francais
ENGLISH NAME: Reception of an English admiral on a French ship
MEDIUM: Lithography on Arches paper
SIGNATURE: Signed in Plate
SIZE: 20 in x 26 in (50.8 x 66.04 cm)
Image is ACTUAL Lithograph
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(translated from the Pierre Levy collection)
This large famous canvas, was originally in a dominant light blue but it was requested from the purchaser many years later by Dufy, who wanted to hand it over. He returned it to its owner quite different and very similar, in its color, to the small canvas reproduced here.
We do not know whether Dufy transformed his large painting from this small canvas or if, on the contrary, it is not a reduced model of the large one.
A third painting of the same subject and the same format as that of the Pierre Lévy collection, belongs to Mr. Nathan Cummings, in Chicago
Raoul Dufy (1877 - 1953) was french painter and the brother of Jean Dufy. But he was not only a painter, but a draftsman, printmaker, book illustrator, scenic designer, furniture designer and planner of public spaces. Dufy grew up in a large family from Le Havre in Normandy, France. At eighteen years old, he started night classes at the Le Havre École des Beaux-Arts school. There he met Othon Friesz who became his lifelong friend. During this part of his life, he was painting mostly landscapes.
In 1900 he won a scholarship to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He joined up with Friesz again. In addition, he was heavily influenced at the time by Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro. He began exhibiting at Berthe Weill’s gallery and the Salon des Indépendants which started to boost his confidence. It is said that Henri Matisse’s Lux, Calme et Volupté was what caused him to move toward Fauvism. He spend the next 15 years exploring this genre, but in 1920 he was testing Cubism. As he developed his own approach to this style, he created vibrant oils and watercolors with yacht scenes, the French Riviera, parties and musical events.
Dufy is known for his very large painting, the fresco La Fée Electricité for the Paris Expo in 1937. He continued to exhibit in the 1940s and early ‘50s until his hands were struck with rheumatoid arthritis and he struggled to paint. He went to the US for an experimental treatment and it was successful which allowed him to continue with his painting until his death.
Raoul Dufy died in 1953 and is buried near Matisse.