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Lot Essay
Friesz and his friend Georges Braque, a fellow native of Le Havre, had both studied at the conservative Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the late 1890s, but were totally radicalized by color at the turn of the century. Friesz's work was further transformed by his travels with Braque to the South of France. Together they visited L'Estaque, a port town outside of Marseilles, in the winter of 1906 and again in the spring of 1907. Like other converts to Fauvism, these sons of Normandy drew upon the brilliant colors of Mediterranean coast, yet departed drastically from nature in their creative interpretations thereof. The present painting exemplifies Friesz's uninhibited, sensual approach towards color and form from the outset of his career.
L'Estaque was, in this period, a beacon for ambitious young artists like Friesz. The Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne had famously devoted at least twenty canvases to the town, most of which depict the Gulf of Marseilles, in the 1880s. Unlike Cezanne, however, Friesz's edenic visions of L'Estaque essentially eliminate any signs of human habitation, let alone industry. In this work, Friesz offers a vertiginous view of a deserted cove, with shadows of bright purple, pink and blue. Pine trees, with red trunks and yellow, green and blue foliage, seem to dance and dangle off the edge of the cliff. All is amorphous and dripping with color; even the stones of the cliff seem to melt into the rippled surface of the sea, rendered in a delicious gradient of cool blues.
Soon after their idyllic trips to L'Estaque, Friesz and Braque began to diverge in their artistic styles. Friesz continued to experiment with irreverent and unorthodox colors, while Braque turned towards a more earthy, organic color palette. Braque's compositions became sharper and more linear, while Friesz's landscapes retained their soft, smooth and curvaceous qualities. Still, those seasons spent painting alongside Friesz in L'Estaque remained ecstatic memories for Braque, who later recalled his youthful excitement over the new formal concepts that he and Friesz embraced that winter and spring: "I was freed from the studios, only twenty-four and full of enthusiasm. I moved toward what for me represented novelty and joy, toward Fauvism. It was in the South of France that I first felt truly elated...what a joyful revelation I had there!" (quoted in R.R. Brettell et. al., The Robert Lehman Collection: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2009, p. 258).
L'Estaque was, in this period, a beacon for ambitious young artists like Friesz. The Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne had famously devoted at least twenty canvases to the town, most of which depict the Gulf of Marseilles, in the 1880s. Unlike Cezanne, however, Friesz's edenic visions of L'Estaque essentially eliminate any signs of human habitation, let alone industry. In this work, Friesz offers a vertiginous view of a deserted cove, with shadows of bright purple, pink and blue. Pine trees, with red trunks and yellow, green and blue foliage, seem to dance and dangle off the edge of the cliff. All is amorphous and dripping with color; even the stones of the cliff seem to melt into the rippled surface of the sea, rendered in a delicious gradient of cool blues.
Soon after their idyllic trips to L'Estaque, Friesz and Braque began to diverge in their artistic styles. Friesz continued to experiment with irreverent and unorthodox colors, while Braque turned towards a more earthy, organic color palette. Braque's compositions became sharper and more linear, while Friesz's landscapes retained their soft, smooth and curvaceous qualities. Still, those seasons spent painting alongside Friesz in L'Estaque remained ecstatic memories for Braque, who later recalled his youthful excitement over the new formal concepts that he and Friesz embraced that winter and spring: "I was freed from the studios, only twenty-four and full of enthusiasm. I moved toward what for me represented novelty and joy, toward Fauvism. It was in the South of France that I first felt truly elated...what a joyful revelation I had there!" (quoted in R.R. Brettell et. al., The Robert Lehman Collection: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2009, p. 258).