.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This work is sold with a photo-certificate from Fanny-Guillon Laffaille.
'Gradually, in Dufy's race-course scenes... everything is given up to the crisp, jaunty interaction between green turf, red brick buildings, white railings, multi-coloured crowds, green trees against blue sky with sprightly puffs of clouds' (B. Robertson, Raoul Dufy 1877-1953, London, 1983).
The present gouache perfectly exemplifies Robertson's critique. Ascot's scenery is depicted in all the luscious exuberance of in full bloom June. This picture is an ode to the brightness of the English countryside on a clear summer day. In the crisp light, the pink grandstand and the mauve marquise offer a backdrop to the colourful crowds of spectators, horses and jockeys moving towards the races. This ambitious, frieze-like composition has the remarkable freshness and chromatic exuberance typical of Dufy's most successful gouaches.
'Gradually, in Dufy's race-course scenes... everything is given up to the crisp, jaunty interaction between green turf, red brick buildings, white railings, multi-coloured crowds, green trees against blue sky with sprightly puffs of clouds' (B. Robertson, Raoul Dufy 1877-1953, London, 1983).
The present gouache perfectly exemplifies Robertson's critique. Ascot's scenery is depicted in all the luscious exuberance of in full bloom June. This picture is an ode to the brightness of the English countryside on a clear summer day. In the crisp light, the pink grandstand and the mauve marquise offer a backdrop to the colourful crowds of spectators, horses and jockeys moving towards the races. This ambitious, frieze-like composition has the remarkable freshness and chromatic exuberance typical of Dufy's most successful gouaches.