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Lot Essay
Jacques Chalom des Cordes will include this painting in his forthcoming Van Dongen catalogue raisonné being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute.
Kees van Dongen's paintings were celebrated for their fashionable views of resorts and European cities. As a leading figure of the belle monde, Van Dongen recorded his travels through Europe in his paintings. Deauville was a summer community situated three hours northwest of Paris on the coast of Normandy. It attracted vacationers and artists with its picturesque boardwalks, sandy beach, racecourse and casino. Le polo à Deauville captures the activity of an afternoon at the Polo fields during the height of the social season. The outdoor game of Polo was started in Persia around 200 B.C. as a way to breed and train military horses but its appeal in Van Dongen's time was purely as a venue for equestrians to amuse themselves. The sport required substantial capital to maintain the string of Polo ponies necessitated by the rigors of the game that was played on field almost 160 by 300 yards in size. In turn, the game attracted a following of wealthy spectators who enjoyed socializing against the backdrop of the match. The pageantry of the scene appealed to Van Dongen and in Le polo à Deauville he arranges the figures in myriad poses across a frieze-like band and portrays them in variously colored costumes. These trainers and spectators mingle in the foreground with the ponies that are saddled and are waiting to be sent out onto the field for the next chukker. The figure in the right foreground is Bachi Singh, who made his reputation playing for Rao Raja Hanut Singh, and who was playing for an English team, the Hurricanes, in 1955. In the distance the Polo match is underway, and the players are shown charging down the field in pursuit of one player who is about to drive the ball through the goalposts with his mallet.
Kees van Dongen's paintings were celebrated for their fashionable views of resorts and European cities. As a leading figure of the belle monde, Van Dongen recorded his travels through Europe in his paintings. Deauville was a summer community situated three hours northwest of Paris on the coast of Normandy. It attracted vacationers and artists with its picturesque boardwalks, sandy beach, racecourse and casino. Le polo à Deauville captures the activity of an afternoon at the Polo fields during the height of the social season. The outdoor game of Polo was started in Persia around 200 B.C. as a way to breed and train military horses but its appeal in Van Dongen's time was purely as a venue for equestrians to amuse themselves. The sport required substantial capital to maintain the string of Polo ponies necessitated by the rigors of the game that was played on field almost 160 by 300 yards in size. In turn, the game attracted a following of wealthy spectators who enjoyed socializing against the backdrop of the match. The pageantry of the scene appealed to Van Dongen and in Le polo à Deauville he arranges the figures in myriad poses across a frieze-like band and portrays them in variously colored costumes. These trainers and spectators mingle in the foreground with the ponies that are saddled and are waiting to be sent out onto the field for the next chukker. The figure in the right foreground is Bachi Singh, who made his reputation playing for Rao Raja Hanut Singh, and who was playing for an English team, the Hurricanes, in 1955. In the distance the Polo match is underway, and the players are shown charging down the field in pursuit of one player who is about to drive the ball through the goalposts with his mallet.