Nu à la Renoir, ca. 1930
Pastel on buff paper
47 x 61 cm.
Stamped with the signature lower left
Provenance:
New Art Centre, London
Private collection Londen
Like many other artist, including Picasso and Derain, Dufy became very interested in Renoir’s work after the first world war. The present work, with its loose brushstrokes and warm sensuality may be seen as a personal act of hommage to the late nudes wich were particularly admired at the time.
To be included in de supplement to the Raoul Dufy Catalogue Raisonné des aquarelles, gouaches et pastels being prepared by Fanny Guillon-Lafaille.
Raoul Dufy (June 3, 1877, Le Havre, France—March 23, 1953, Forcalquier) was a French painter and designer renowned for his brightly coloured and decorative scenes of luxury and pleasure.
In 1900 Dufy moved to Paris, where studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. His early work is characterized by an Impressionist style but about 1905 he had begun to adopt the broad brushstrokes and bright colours of the Fauve artists. A 1907 exhibition of Paul Cézanne’s work inspired Dufy to develop more subdued colours and structured compositions. Between 1908 and 1909 Dufy’s work influenced by the cubist painters George Braque and Émile-Othon Friesz. He soon returned to his more Fauvist approach. Dufy was also a successful artist in other media. In 1910 he made a series of woodcuts to illustrate poet Guillaume Apollinaire’s Bestiary. He began to create designs for a textile company in 1912 and in the 1920s he designed ceramics and tapestries.
In the early 1920s, Dufy began to produce what are now his most famous paintings. His distinctive style is characterized by bright colours thinly spread over a white ground, with objects sketchily delineated. Dufy took as his subjects scenes of recreation and spectacle, including horse races, regattas, parades, and concerts.
He spent much of his time on the French Riviera and produced series of paintings of Nice (1927), the Bois de Boulogne (1929), and Deauville (1930). He also was an illustrator and printmaker in the 1920s and 1930s.
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