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Lot Essay
Dina Vierny has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
The acclaim and posthumous success of naive painter Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) sparked widespread interest in other so-called 'primitive artists' in Europe and in the United States. In the 1920s in France, Wilhelm Uhde, influential dealer of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque during the early Cubist years, discovered and championed a group of French naives, including the French painter Camille Bombois. Uhde's groundbreaking exhibition, Les primitifs modernes, in 1926, introduced Bombois, André Bauchant, Louis Vivin and Séraphine. Their inventive formal solutions such as obsessive attention to detail, use of multiple perspectives and dramatic color contrasts combine to give their pictures the dreamy, hallucinogenic quality that would influence numerous twentieth century artists.
As a child Bombois lived on a barge, and after working in various rural trades became a fairground wrestler in order to live near Paris. A robust Burgundian proud of his athletic prowess, he expressed his admiration for physical strength in his bold handling of space and use of color. His still-lifes are violently colored, concisely painted and simplified in composition, but it was in the carnal energy of his nudes that Bombois excelled.
The acclaim and posthumous success of naive painter Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) sparked widespread interest in other so-called 'primitive artists' in Europe and in the United States. In the 1920s in France, Wilhelm Uhde, influential dealer of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque during the early Cubist years, discovered and championed a group of French naives, including the French painter Camille Bombois. Uhde's groundbreaking exhibition, Les primitifs modernes, in 1926, introduced Bombois, André Bauchant, Louis Vivin and Séraphine. Their inventive formal solutions such as obsessive attention to detail, use of multiple perspectives and dramatic color contrasts combine to give their pictures the dreamy, hallucinogenic quality that would influence numerous twentieth century artists.
As a child Bombois lived on a barge, and after working in various rural trades became a fairground wrestler in order to live near Paris. A robust Burgundian proud of his athletic prowess, he expressed his admiration for physical strength in his bold handling of space and use of color. His still-lifes are violently colored, concisely painted and simplified in composition, but it was in the carnal energy of his nudes that Bombois excelled.