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Lot Essay
Dufy's fascination with the races was inspired by his collaboration with the fashion designer Paul Poiret, who, in 1909, commissioned the artist to create the stationary for the house, and the textile patterns used in fabrics and garments. Poiret's signature dresses were flamboyantly sported by the ladies attending the races in Paris, Nice, Deauville, and, of course, the even more fashionable English race-courses at Epsom and Ascot.
Dufy experimented with the subject of horse races as early as 1913. His first paddock works were very stylised watercolours, focussing on the audience of élégantes, dandies and jockeys attending the courses at Deauville. In the 1920s, his attention to the public's attire grew stronger, and he dedicated a series of gouaches to Poiret's models (les mannequins de Poiret), whom he captured in still, frieze-like compositions, influenced by 1920s fashion advertising. With his discovery of Epsom and Ascot in the 1930s, Dufy's compositions became more ambitious, as he started depicting the whole course, as seen from a bird's eye-view.
Le Derby à Epsom, executed in 1933, is one of the most vibrant gouaches of the 1930s. Dufy has captured the electric moment of the race, with the horses framed by a row of top-hatted gentlemen in the foreground, and the sea of spectators filling the stadium. The advertising boards, with capital red and white letters encased in sharp boxes, create a stark and highly modern contrast against the colourful crowds, whose tones Dufy has echoed in the flags waving in the sky. Dufy has portrayed this social fresco of contemporary high society with a unique immediacy and panache.
The present and the following gouache, as well as Le champ de courses de Deauville, le meeting aérien (lot 438) are from the collection of the late Robert Sangster (1936-2004). Born in Liverpool, he was the son of Vernon Sangster, founder of Vernon Pools. The family business was just down the road from Aintree racecourse, and Sangster would become one of the best-known racehorse owners in flat racing. He acquired his first racehorse in 1967 and went on to win twenty eight European Classics and was a champion owner five times. His famous blue, green and white silks prevailed more than a hundred Group One races; he twice won the Derby, with The Minstrel (1977) and Golden Fleece (1982), and his horses were victorious in The Breeder's Cup Mile, the Melbourne Cup and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Dufy experimented with the subject of horse races as early as 1913. His first paddock works were very stylised watercolours, focussing on the audience of élégantes, dandies and jockeys attending the courses at Deauville. In the 1920s, his attention to the public's attire grew stronger, and he dedicated a series of gouaches to Poiret's models (les mannequins de Poiret), whom he captured in still, frieze-like compositions, influenced by 1920s fashion advertising. With his discovery of Epsom and Ascot in the 1930s, Dufy's compositions became more ambitious, as he started depicting the whole course, as seen from a bird's eye-view.
Le Derby à Epsom, executed in 1933, is one of the most vibrant gouaches of the 1930s. Dufy has captured the electric moment of the race, with the horses framed by a row of top-hatted gentlemen in the foreground, and the sea of spectators filling the stadium. The advertising boards, with capital red and white letters encased in sharp boxes, create a stark and highly modern contrast against the colourful crowds, whose tones Dufy has echoed in the flags waving in the sky. Dufy has portrayed this social fresco of contemporary high society with a unique immediacy and panache.
The present and the following gouache, as well as Le champ de courses de Deauville, le meeting aérien (lot 438) are from the collection of the late Robert Sangster (1936-2004). Born in Liverpool, he was the son of Vernon Sangster, founder of Vernon Pools. The family business was just down the road from Aintree racecourse, and Sangster would become one of the best-known racehorse owners in flat racing. He acquired his first racehorse in 1967 and went on to win twenty eight European Classics and was a champion owner five times. His famous blue, green and white silks prevailed more than a hundred Group One races; he twice won the Derby, with The Minstrel (1977) and Golden Fleece (1982), and his horses were victorious in The Breeder's Cup Mile, the Melbourne Cup and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.