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Lot Essay
Denise Bazetoux will include this painting in her forthcoming Lebasque catalogue raisonné.
In 1906, the year before Lebasque painted Grand nu au Cannet, the artist moved with his family to the Midi region of southern France at the suggestion of Lebasque's friend and fellow painter, Henri Manguin. In doing so, Lebasque was blazing a trail that would see many artists decamp from Paris for the brilliant light of the South, including Pablo Picasso, Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, for whom Lebasque became a close neighbour as well as a firm friend.
Coinciding with Lebasque's permanent move to the South was a change in subject matter and accent in his work. Henceforth the role of the nude in his art became more important, as his earlier, more restrained, Nabi-inspired interior focus gave way to a celebration of pellucid light playing off colours and contours. In Grand nu au Cannet we see the embodiment of what Lebasque's biographer, Paul Vitry, identified as the prime quality of the artist's nudes - namely 'the impression of a natural and nonchalant abandon.'
In 1906, the year before Lebasque painted Grand nu au Cannet, the artist moved with his family to the Midi region of southern France at the suggestion of Lebasque's friend and fellow painter, Henri Manguin. In doing so, Lebasque was blazing a trail that would see many artists decamp from Paris for the brilliant light of the South, including Pablo Picasso, Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, for whom Lebasque became a close neighbour as well as a firm friend.
Coinciding with Lebasque's permanent move to the South was a change in subject matter and accent in his work. Henceforth the role of the nude in his art became more important, as his earlier, more restrained, Nabi-inspired interior focus gave way to a celebration of pellucid light playing off colours and contours. In Grand nu au Cannet we see the embodiment of what Lebasque's biographer, Paul Vitry, identified as the prime quality of the artist's nudes - namely 'the impression of a natural and nonchalant abandon.'