Kees van Dongen

Galerie de Berri, Paris
Louis Chaumeil, Paris
Sale: Guy Loudmer, Paris, 11th December 1985, lot 75
Private Collection, France
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2007

Paris, Galerie de Berri, Van Dongen, Epoque fauve, 1953
Nice, Galerie des Ponchettes, Van Dongen, 1959, no. 9
Paris & Munich, 1966, no. 112

Jean-Paul Crespelle, Les Fauves, Neuchâtel, 1962, illustrated in colour pl. 70
Louis Chaumeil, Van Dongen: L'homme et l'artiste - La vie et l'œuvre, Geneva, 1967, no. VII, illustrated in colour
Marcel Giry, Le Fauvisme, ses origines, son évolution, Neuchâtel, 1981, p. 177
The Van Dongen Nobody Knows: Early and Fauvist Drawings 1895-1912 (exhibition catalogue), Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1997, fig. 57, illustrated p. 70
Van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Nouveau Musée National, Monaco & Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montreal, 2008-09, fig. 19, illustrated in colour p. 131
Kees van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Museu Picasso, Barcelona, 2009, fig. 19, illustrated in colour p. 33

The canvas is unlined and there is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. There is a tiny tackhole in the lower right corner. This work is in very good original condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the red background has a slightly brighter tonality in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted at the height of Van Dongen's Fauve style, the present work is a firmly modernist, gently humorous take on the tradition of ballet – here, that style of ballet danced in the cabarets and vaudevilles of demi-mondaine early twentieth-century Paris, rather than that practised at the Opéra. The ballerina Mademoiselle Léda (presumably nicknamed after the production in which she is dancing) winks at the audience and raises her hands up to the level of her face, perhaps having kissed them first in gratitude for the applause that she is receiving before extending them out towards her beloved audience. Léda is depicted as a bold diagonal across the picture-plane, and is highlighted by a cloud of brilliant scarlet that hovers behind her. She is a jaunty, confident presence that dominates the composition and epitomises both Van Dongen's pre-eminence at portraying the female form and his recurring interest in motifs drawn from the performing arts.

 

Anita Hopmans discussed the present work in comparison to Matisse's 1906 oil La Liseuse, which uses a similar palette: 'Was it possibly in answer to [La Liseuse] that Van Dongen submitted his picture of the ballerina winking at the viewer, Mademoiselle Léda, known under the title La ballerina borgne? It is striking that this canvas is also largely painted in complementary reds and greens – but then the reverse from Matisse's work. Van Dongen's picture shows a girl in green against the background of a red 'cloud'. [...] It can certainly be read as a reply to Matisse' (A. Hopmans, in The Van Dongen Nobody Knows: Early and Fauvist Drawings 1895-1912 (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 70).