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Lot Essay
Kees van Dongen worked with André Metthey during 1908, the year that coincided with his success at the Salon d'Automne. In 1907 van Dongen obtained a contract with Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler, giving him the opportunity to exhibit his works in Kahnweiler's gallery rue Vignon in Paris. His growing reputation led him to work closely with the Bernheim-Jeune brothers who organised a one-man exhibition in their gallery rue Richepanse from November to December 1908. Sixty-four paintings (dating from 1892 to 1902), ten watercolours, one drawing, three sculptures and nine ceramics (several plates, one dish, three vases and ceramic tiles) on which he had collaborated with Metthey were put on display for the public.
Although Kees van Dongen's name does not figure in the catalogue of the 1907 Salon d'Automne alongside the other Ecole d'Asnières collaborators, he nevertheless fits perfectly within the category of fauvist ceramicists. The purity of line, the vibrant colours and striking contrasts and the use of the plain white-grey tin-glazed ceramic ground recall his fellow artists' collaborations with Metthey at that time. Like André Derain, van Dongen employs ceramics to transcribe his painterly oeuvre onto a new medium. For example, many of his plates depicting female figures or nudes can easily be related to corresponding paintings, as seen with the present work mirroring his painting Le Lit de la Bonne (fig. 1). Van Dongen extracts the main lines from his paintings of the same subject for his ceramics in order to highlight the purity of the crude glazed colours which are dominated by a certain harmony of contrasts, thus rendering his figure more sensuous. In 1908, the two important female models posing for the artist were Nini from the Folies-Bergère and Anita 'la Bohémienne', either of which could be identified as the figure of the plate in this collection.
The example shown here of the female nude depicted with violent colours sheds light on the close link between Kees van Dongen and German Expressionism, such as with the artists of Die Brücke. This group of artists discovered Van Dongen's art when the latter's works were exhibited by Kahnweiler at the Galerie Flechtheim in Düsseldorf during the Spring of 1908. Kees van Dongen appealed particularly to Max Pechstein (1881-1955), who made regular visits to Paris to see the Dutch artist and whose work strongly reflects Kees van Dongen's style, colours and subjects. Furthermore the ceramics in which van Dongen quotes directly from his own paintings reflect the recent revolutionary concept of fusing the so-called 'minor arts' with 'major arts'.
Fig. 1, Kees Van Dongen, Le Lit de la Bonne, 1908, Private Collection.
©ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2006
Although Kees van Dongen's name does not figure in the catalogue of the 1907 Salon d'Automne alongside the other Ecole d'Asnières collaborators, he nevertheless fits perfectly within the category of fauvist ceramicists. The purity of line, the vibrant colours and striking contrasts and the use of the plain white-grey tin-glazed ceramic ground recall his fellow artists' collaborations with Metthey at that time. Like André Derain, van Dongen employs ceramics to transcribe his painterly oeuvre onto a new medium. For example, many of his plates depicting female figures or nudes can easily be related to corresponding paintings, as seen with the present work mirroring his painting Le Lit de la Bonne (fig. 1). Van Dongen extracts the main lines from his paintings of the same subject for his ceramics in order to highlight the purity of the crude glazed colours which are dominated by a certain harmony of contrasts, thus rendering his figure more sensuous. In 1908, the two important female models posing for the artist were Nini from the Folies-Bergère and Anita 'la Bohémienne', either of which could be identified as the figure of the plate in this collection.
The example shown here of the female nude depicted with violent colours sheds light on the close link between Kees van Dongen and German Expressionism, such as with the artists of Die Brücke. This group of artists discovered Van Dongen's art when the latter's works were exhibited by Kahnweiler at the Galerie Flechtheim in Düsseldorf during the Spring of 1908. Kees van Dongen appealed particularly to Max Pechstein (1881-1955), who made regular visits to Paris to see the Dutch artist and whose work strongly reflects Kees van Dongen's style, colours and subjects. Furthermore the ceramics in which van Dongen quotes directly from his own paintings reflect the recent revolutionary concept of fusing the so-called 'minor arts' with 'major arts'.
Fig. 1, Kees Van Dongen, Le Lit de la Bonne, 1908, Private Collection.
©ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2006