Maurice Brianchon

Findlay Galleries, New York
Private Collection, Pebble Beach (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, October 9, 1996, lot 136)
Richard Green Fine Paintings, London (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above

Findlay Galleries, New York, Brianchon and His Favorite Subject Paintings, 1960, no. 5

Pierre-Antoine Brianchon & Olivier Daulte, Maurice Brianchon, Catalogue de l'oeuvre peint, Lausanne, 2008, no. 558, illustrated p. 258

The canvas has been relined. When examined under UV light, there is no evidence of overpainting or any other restoration. The varnish is clean. The painting is in very good condition and presents well.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Coinciding with the wider establishment of horse racing in France in the nineteenth century, artists such as Edouard Manet, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas developed a lasting fascination with this subject as the ideal manifestation of the interaction of form and motion. Nearly a century later Brianchon’s Avant le départ harkens back to this proliferation of works depicting what was at that time France’s most popular spectator sport. Much like Degas’ Before the Race (see fig. 1) Brianchon has built his composition upon three horizontals—the fence in the foreground, the frieze-like row of riders and the distant horizon line. Key to the composition is the rigid white fence, which stands out from the surrounding bright and rich greens of the sodden track and background, dividing the participants and viewer.

In the present work the vibrant colors of the jockey’s silks inform a reduced color palette that allows for an astonishing sense of balance and refinement to underscore the work. In the intensified colors and simplified forms we can see the influence of Henri Matisse and the artists of the Nabis movement—Brianchon has organized flattened patches of vibrant color into a beautiful, harmonious composition that recalls their desire for pure aesthetic representation. Drawing from this variety of sources, both historical and contemporary, Brianchon creates a visual style that gained him great acclaim and numerous invitations to exhibit in the Salon d’Automne beginning in 1919. He went on to accept a position as an instructor at the École National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, counting among his students painter André Brasilier, and in 1959 and 1960 he made his American debut with two separate shows at Findlay Galleries in New York; the present work was exhibited in the later exhibition.