Auguste Herbin

Wilhem Uhde
Gallery Pieter B. Van Voorst Van Beest, The Hague
Acquired from the above in 1992

Amsterdam, Galerie E.J. Van Wisselingh, Maîtres français XIX et XX siècles, 1954, no. 17
The Hague, Van Voorst van Beest Gallery, Growing International, 1992, no. 5, illustrated in the catalogue

Geneviève Claisse, Herbin, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Lausanne, 1993, no. 117, illustrated p. 299

Canvas is unlined. Surface retains rich and textured impasto. Artist pinholes at the four corners. Under UV, two nailhead-size retouches - one near the center of the top edge and another just below the center of the composition. Work is in excellent condition.
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In 1906, Herbin completely embraced Fauvism.  In March, 1907 he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants alongside Derain, Vlaminck and Braque and in October, Herbin exhibited additional Fauve works at the fifth Salon d'Automne at the Grand Palais.  At the invitation of Wilhelm Uhde, the original owner of the present work, Herbin spent the spring of 1907 on the island of Corsica.  The present work is part of a series of some fifteen paintings which Herbin executed during this Mediterranean sojourn of the quays, ports, crowded streets and surrounding countryside of the island (Geneviève Claisse, op. cit., nos. 104-119).

With its vibrant colors and vigorous brushwork, Une rue à Bastia typifies Herbin's Corsican series, inspired by the high-key Fauve scenes which artists like Derain, Matisse and Braque had been painting in Collioure, Saint Tropez, La Ciotat and L'Estaque.  The present painting is a dazzling mosaic of color, posing a sharp contrast to the relatively sober, restrained scenes of Lille and Paris which Herbin executed in the first few years of the century.  Une rue à Bastia reveals the inspiration the artist found in the brilliant southern light of Corsica.

Fig. 1  Auguste Herbin, circa 1907

Fig 2. The same street corner in Bastia, Corsica