André Lhote

Mr & Mrs Alfred Wolkenberg, New York (acquired directly from the artist)
Sale: Christie's, New York, 11th May 1989, lot 292
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Vildrac, André Lhote, 1914, no. 2
New York, Gallery Brentano's, Rétrospective André Lhote, 1956, no. 3
Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Exposition André Lhote, 1962, no. 13, illustrated in the catalogue

The canvas is lined. There are a few scattered pin dots of retouching at the extreme edges due to previous framing and a few other strokes of retouching in the white pigment at centre and in the sky upper left. These retouchings are visible under UV light. There is a thin line of abrasion to the paint around the extreme edges. Some minor craquelure in the airplane wing and in the green flag lower right. Otherwise, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, although the colours are overall more vibrant in the original, the reds in particular are brighter and there is less black in the tones.
"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."

André Lhote's jubilant painting of the Bastille Day celebrations in the port of his beloved Bordeaux is perhaps the most spectacular of all his depictions of this bustling port. A subject to which he returned several times throughout his career, in the present work Lhote renders the harbour of his native city with hitherto unparalleled vitality and charm.

In contrast to an earlier version of this subject which dates from 1912 and whose preparatory watercolour belongs to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, the present work does little to accentuate the industrial nature of the site. Lhote depicts the scene from a plunging aerial viewpoint, almost omitting to paint the quay at all. The toil of dockland labourers unloading barrels of wine which features so prominently in the earlier rendition has here been supressed in favour of the vibrant colours of the emerald water and dancing flags, strung together to form bunting that billows in the summer breeze. Depictions of this patriotic holiday featured in the work of several of Lhote's illustrious predecessors, not least Claude Monet and Edouard Manet, but it was arguably the paintings of the younger generation of artists such as Marquet, Dufy and Lhote which best captured the exuberance of the day's commemorative festivities.

14 Juillet Port de Bordeaux-Poincaré is possessed of an unmistakeable energy, due in great part to the mastery of Lhote's composition and the expressive potential of his distinctive aesthetic approach. "How wonderful to be able to manipulate representative elements with total freedom, without being constrained by anecdotal truth!" the artist later notes on the subject of his technique, "Each motif confers upon the painting only what is appropriate to the expression: as soon as it has communicated the essential it steps aside to make room for the neighbouring element... [which is] crucial to the rhythmic composition of the painting" (cited in Anatole Jakovsky, André Lhote, 48 reproductions commentées par le peintre, Paris, 1947, pp. 251-267. Translated from the French).