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Lot Essay
Robert Martin has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Georges Braque and Emile-Othon Friesz had studied together at Léon Bonnat's studio in Paris and, while Friesz had been exhibiting at the Salon since 1900, Braque did not exhibit his work until the spring of 1906 at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants. Both were born in Le Havre and worked regularly together during the pivotal years of Fauvism. Their Fauve journey together began in earnest in 1906 when the two artists spent the summer working alongside each other in Antwerp. Sitting side by side, they painted several canvases of the same subjects between June and September. They would set up their easels around the town and challenge each other to paint what they saw in the most radical colours possible, using the new vocabulary of the Fauvist palette.
After leaving Antwerp, Braque and Friesz travelled briefly to Paris before moving on to La Ciotat and l'Estaque in the South of France. Here, away from the city, Friesz and Braque focused more on light and colour than on composition (see fig. 2). As a result, the acid colours of Antwerp are replaced with the warm, harmonious colours of the Mediterranean. In essence, their La Ciotat paintings of 1907 are fundamentally more exotic in feel than any other works by the Fauve painters.
Georges Braque and Emile-Othon Friesz had studied together at Léon Bonnat's studio in Paris and, while Friesz had been exhibiting at the Salon since 1900, Braque did not exhibit his work until the spring of 1906 at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants. Both were born in Le Havre and worked regularly together during the pivotal years of Fauvism. Their Fauve journey together began in earnest in 1906 when the two artists spent the summer working alongside each other in Antwerp. Sitting side by side, they painted several canvases of the same subjects between June and September. They would set up their easels around the town and challenge each other to paint what they saw in the most radical colours possible, using the new vocabulary of the Fauvist palette.
After leaving Antwerp, Braque and Friesz travelled briefly to Paris before moving on to La Ciotat and l'Estaque in the South of France. Here, away from the city, Friesz and Braque focused more on light and colour than on composition (see fig. 2). As a result, the acid colours of Antwerp are replaced with the warm, harmonious colours of the Mediterranean. In essence, their La Ciotat paintings of 1907 are fundamentally more exotic in feel than any other works by the Fauve painters.