Lot Essay
Braque was the youngest of the Fauve artists. He began to paint in the Fauve style in 1906 when he exhibited at the Cercle d'Art Moderne in Le Havre. Braque recalled, "La peinture fauve m'avait impressionné par ce qu'elle avait de nouveau, et cela me convenait ... C'était une peinture très enthousiaste et elle convenait à mon age, j'avais vingt-trois ans ... comme je n'aimais pas le romanticisme, cette peinture physique me plaisait" (D. Vallier, "Braque, la peinture et nous", Cahiers d'Art, no. 1, Paris, 1954, p. 14).
In the same year he exhibited seven pictures at the Salon des Indépendants and spent the summer in Antwerp with Othon Friesz where, for the first time, his Fauve colours and paint handling started to blossom. It is interesting to note that the Fauve paintings executed by Matisse and Derain in Collioure at the same time also became increasingly dynamic and avant-garde. Braque and Friesz stayed in Antwerp until September, often re-working the same subjects until they were satisfied that the compositions and colours perfectly suited their vision of landscape. This method of working continued when they moved to L'Estaque the following year (see lot 24).
The present work represents the view seen from the window of their shared studio overlooking the port of Antwerp. The landscaped pedestrian quays with the fairground below afforded unobstructed views of the old city with the twin towers of the Hôtel de Ville, the Cathedral and the medieval old town on the far bank.
Judi Freeman gives a graphic account of their working method: "Braque and Friesz painted alongside one another during most of the trip, producing both the horizontal and vertical canvases, often of identical views. Preferring more populated sites, they would set up their easels on the landscaped paths of the left bank that faced the busy docks on the right. This area was a popular tourist haunt and visitors would stop at one of the waterside cafés to dine on mussels while watching the ships. Perched on a terrace outside one of these cafés above the grassy bank, both Braque and Friesz painted the small dock on the left bank in the foreground, with the skyline of Antwerp's right bank in the distance ... Friesz's technique remained rooted in Impressionism; avoiding abrupt contrasts, he blended tones throughout - in the water and sky, on buildings and quaysides. Braque gravitated toward the juxtaposition of intensely colored brush strokes, moving beyond the harmonious contrasts present in much Impressionist painting. The intensity of his palette gradually increased during his three-month stay, becoming divorced from naturalistic depictures of objects and surfaces" (Exh. cat., The Fauve Landscape, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990, p. 205, 207).
Related views of Antwerp painted in this format by Braque are housed in the Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal and the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basle (fig. 3).
Sold with a photo-certificate from Quentin Laurens dated Paris, le 7 Août 1991.
In the same year he exhibited seven pictures at the Salon des Indépendants and spent the summer in Antwerp with Othon Friesz where, for the first time, his Fauve colours and paint handling started to blossom. It is interesting to note that the Fauve paintings executed by Matisse and Derain in Collioure at the same time also became increasingly dynamic and avant-garde. Braque and Friesz stayed in Antwerp until September, often re-working the same subjects until they were satisfied that the compositions and colours perfectly suited their vision of landscape. This method of working continued when they moved to L'Estaque the following year (see lot 24).
The present work represents the view seen from the window of their shared studio overlooking the port of Antwerp. The landscaped pedestrian quays with the fairground below afforded unobstructed views of the old city with the twin towers of the Hôtel de Ville, the Cathedral and the medieval old town on the far bank.
Judi Freeman gives a graphic account of their working method: "Braque and Friesz painted alongside one another during most of the trip, producing both the horizontal and vertical canvases, often of identical views. Preferring more populated sites, they would set up their easels on the landscaped paths of the left bank that faced the busy docks on the right. This area was a popular tourist haunt and visitors would stop at one of the waterside cafés to dine on mussels while watching the ships. Perched on a terrace outside one of these cafés above the grassy bank, both Braque and Friesz painted the small dock on the left bank in the foreground, with the skyline of Antwerp's right bank in the distance ... Friesz's technique remained rooted in Impressionism; avoiding abrupt contrasts, he blended tones throughout - in the water and sky, on buildings and quaysides. Braque gravitated toward the juxtaposition of intensely colored brush strokes, moving beyond the harmonious contrasts present in much Impressionist painting. The intensity of his palette gradually increased during his three-month stay, becoming divorced from naturalistic depictures of objects and surfaces" (Exh. cat., The Fauve Landscape, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990, p. 205, 207).
Related views of Antwerp painted in this format by Braque are housed in the Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal and the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basle (fig. 3).
Sold with a photo-certificate from Quentin Laurens dated Paris, le 7 Août 1991.