Kees van Dongen

Philippe Bonnet (Vente : Sotheby's, Londres, 7 décembre 1978, lot 585)
The Maspro Art Museum, Japon (acquis lors de la vente précédente et vendu : Christie's, New York, 5 mai 2005, lot 383)
Acquis lors de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Van Dongen, Cinquante ans de peinture, 1942, no. 105 (daté 1935)

The canvas is lined. There are scattered lines of retouching to cover craquelure to the background, mainly towards the upper left corner, to the woman's bodice and to the lower part of her bob. There is an area of retouching to the upper right corner, and three small areas of retouching around the upper left corner, and a line of retouching running along the bottom edge. All retouching is visible under UV light. There are two ridges in the medium running parallel to the left and right edges, probably light stretcher marks, the former with some associated cracking in the paint. Apart from some light craquelure to the paint on the woman's forehead, this work is in fair condition.
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signed 'Van Dongen' (upper left) ; signed 'Van Dongen' (on the stretcher), oil on canvas. 

Parmi les plus célèbres portraitistes fauves, connu dans le Tout Paris pour sa personnalité mondaine et ses moeurs légères, Van Dongen est  par ailleurs un fin observateur de son époque d'hédonisme et d'agitation. Son utilisation osée de la couleur ainsi que les formes allongées caractéristiques de ses figures féminines font écho aux vies souvent bohèmes et dissolues de ses modèles.

L'identité de la femme de ce portrait reste inconnue ; la principale préoccupation de l'artiste n'étant pas la fidélité de ses représentations, mais plutôt la vigueur de sa palette et l'expressivité qui se dégage des visages qu'il immortalise sur la toile. Dans La Jeune femme au bouquet de fleurs, il peint une femme dont le seul attribut est une poignée de fleurs aux couleurs vives et chatoyantes.  "Fidèle à sa principale source d'inspiration, le nu féminin, Van Dongen dans le prologue plein d'humour qu'il rédige pour son exposition de décembre [1911], revendique ouvertement sa position :" L'impudeur est vraiment une vertu comme l'absence de respect pour beaucoup de choses respectables " et intitule même certaines toiles Danseuses lascives". Ces nus aguichants qui n'ont gardé pour parure qu'une fleur, un noeud de rubans ou un chapeau, permettent à la critique de baptiser notre peintre " le psychologue du corps" et à René Jean de le féliciter de "voir la femme comme un superbe animal dont les sourires et les gestes sont gracieux, souples, félins et évocateurs" (Gaston Diehl, Van Dongen, Lugano, 1968, p. 52).

 

 

Known as the principal portraitist among the Fauve artists, van Dongen was an ubiquitous figure in the Parisian art world, and his dissolute lifestyle and distinctive aesthetic made him one of the key chroniclers of this period of restless hedonism. His bold use of colour and the distinctive, elongated forms of his figures evoke the exotic bohemian lifestyle of his models.

The identity of the sitter of this work remains unknown, as van Dongen's primary focus was on the vibrancy of his palette and the directness of his expression rather than on the anatomical accuracy or descriptive value of his portraits. In Jeune Femme au Bouquet de Fleurs, he depicts a female figure with almost nothing but a bunch of flowers. In rendering his subject in strong, vibrant colours, the artist sought to recreate his own interpretation of it, expressing the essence of female sexuality. 'For his part, faithful to his principal source of inspiration, the feminine nude, van Dongen openly asserted his position in the witty prologue he composed for his December [1911] show: "A certain immodesty is truly a virtue, as is the absence of respect for many respectable things." [...] These enticing nudes, who have no adornment but a flower, a knot of ribbons, or a hat, permitted the critics to baptize our painter "the psychologist of the body", and permitted René Jean to congratulate him for "seeing woman as a superb animal whose smiles and gestures are gracious, supple, feline and evocative"' (Gaston Diehl, Van Dongen, Milan, n.d., p. 52).