Albert MARQUET (1875-1947) - Lot 183

Albert MARQUET (1875-1947) La Rochelle,1920 Oil on canvas. Signed lower left. 65.4 x 81.1 cm Provenance -Galerie Druet, Paris, acquired from the artist, November 5, 1920. -Private collection, Neuilly-sur-Seine, acquired December 4, 1920. -In the family. -Private collection. Exhibitions: Paris, Galerie E. Druet,Exposition Albert Marquet, November 22 - December 3, 1920, no. 33 ("La Rochelle. Le port, temps gris") Publications: Marc Sandoz, "Signac et Marquet à La Rochelle, Les Sables-d'Olonne, Croix-de-Vie. Influence of the site on their work. Œuvres inédites, "Dibutade: fascicule spécial du Bulletin des Amis musées de PoitiersIV (1957), p. 18 ("Quatre barques de plaisance amarrées dans l'avant-port. Soir") Marc Sandoz,L'Oeuvre d'Albert Marquet à La Rochelle, La Chaume, Les Sables d'Olonne en 1920, 1921 et 1933. Essai de Catalogue(Paris: Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de l'INHA, c. 1957), no. 32, p. 18 (as "La Rochelle. Four pleasure boats anchored in the open water of the outer harbor. Soir") This work will be included in the digital catalog raisonné currently being prepared by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. A notice of inclusion from the Wildenstein Plattner Institute will be given to the purchaser. Marquet painted this work at the foot of the Tour Saint Nicolas, near the careening workshops in the port of La Rochelle. Here, he opted for an unprecedented framing, depicting the entrance to the port in its most dynamic axis. The composition of a succession of shots inevitably draws the eye into the distance, an ode to travel and discovery. As is often the case with Marquet, space is structured by a combination of diagonal lines (silhouettes of boats converging on the harbor exit) and horizontal lines, embodied by the shipyard huts in the background. The pictorial balance resulting from this construction and the layout of these works often refer to Japanese prints. The subtle dialogue between the opaline hues of the sea and the gradations of the leaden sky enables the painter to emphasize the stormy atmosphere, while the nuanced tones of the water suggest the vibrations and eddies of the sea. Marc Sandoz, author of a book on Marquet and La Rochelle, refers to this as a "symphony of greys". With incomparable assurance, Marquet reduces the landscape to its essential elements, drawing out its expressive lines and excluding all superfluous detail.