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Lot Essay
Henri Manguin, along with Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Albert Marquet and Charles Camoin, was a founder and early exponent of the Fauve movement. He had been close friends with Camoin, Matisse, and Marquet since 1895 when they were students of Gustave Moreau at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Their camaraderie, shared theoretical philosophy and aims contributed to the momentous joint impact of their pioneering canvases when they were first shown to the public.
Along with the others, Manguin became fascinated by the color and intense light along the southern coast of France. Matisse had spent the summer of 1904 in Saint-Tropez, then a nearly inaccessible fishing village, where Signac had a home. Matisse's pictoral experimentation with divisionism, prompted by Signac, "reached a pitch at which colour itself felt to him like dynamite" (H. Spurling, The Unknown Matisse, New York, 1998, p. 239). In 1905, Manguin, Marquet and Camoin took up residence in Saint-Tropez while Matisse traveled east along the coast to Collioure. They all experimented with brilliantly colored canvases. In the fall of 1905, Manguin exhibited 5 of these paintings alongside works by his friends in the notorious Room VII--the cage aux fauves--at the Paris Salon d'Automne.
Manguin and his family rented a villa in the seaside village of Cavalière in the spring and summer of 1906, while Matisse returned to Collioure. It was during this sojourn that Manguin painted some of his finest and most expansive fauve landscapes, of which Les oliviers à Cavalière is a stunning example. In July, the Manguin family joined the Matisses in Collioure. Matisse noted to friends, "Manguin is the only one who is happy with what he's done, more than happy" (op. cit., p. 368).
Jean-Paul Crespelle has observed that "what distinguishes [Manguin from Matisse] is the strength and solidity of his draughtsmanship, a lesson learned from Cézanne, who he came to appreciate much earlier than his friends in the studio of Moreau. While the other Fauves were lost in admiration for Gauguin, Manguin realized how much Gauguin owed to Cézanne" (in The Fauves, London, 1962, p. 227). Manguin's preference for clearly delineated contours and accents is evident in the present painting in the delicately twisting arabesques of the tree branches. They are employed here in a rhythmical arrangement to describe the space in the composition as it recedes toward a vanishing point at a distant curve in the woodland path.
The most appealing aspect of Manguin's painting, of course, lies in his luxuriant sense of color. Reviewing an exhibition held at Galerie Druet in 1910, Guillaume Apollinaire, the great poet and aficionado of avant-garde painting, declared, "M. Manguin is a voluptuous painter. Colorist that he is, Manguin confines himself to the expression of contrasts that produce flashes of half-livid, half-flesh-colored light His wonderstruck landscapes tell of the young glory of natural sites in June, after sunrise" (in L.C. Breunig, ed., Apollinaire on Art, New York, 1972, p. 100).
(fig. 1) Postcard of Cavalière sent by Marquet to Matisse, who later added the humorous sketches of figures.
Along with the others, Manguin became fascinated by the color and intense light along the southern coast of France. Matisse had spent the summer of 1904 in Saint-Tropez, then a nearly inaccessible fishing village, where Signac had a home. Matisse's pictoral experimentation with divisionism, prompted by Signac, "reached a pitch at which colour itself felt to him like dynamite" (H. Spurling, The Unknown Matisse, New York, 1998, p. 239). In 1905, Manguin, Marquet and Camoin took up residence in Saint-Tropez while Matisse traveled east along the coast to Collioure. They all experimented with brilliantly colored canvases. In the fall of 1905, Manguin exhibited 5 of these paintings alongside works by his friends in the notorious Room VII--the cage aux fauves--at the Paris Salon d'Automne.
Manguin and his family rented a villa in the seaside village of Cavalière in the spring and summer of 1906, while Matisse returned to Collioure. It was during this sojourn that Manguin painted some of his finest and most expansive fauve landscapes, of which Les oliviers à Cavalière is a stunning example. In July, the Manguin family joined the Matisses in Collioure. Matisse noted to friends, "Manguin is the only one who is happy with what he's done, more than happy" (op. cit., p. 368).
Jean-Paul Crespelle has observed that "what distinguishes [Manguin from Matisse] is the strength and solidity of his draughtsmanship, a lesson learned from Cézanne, who he came to appreciate much earlier than his friends in the studio of Moreau. While the other Fauves were lost in admiration for Gauguin, Manguin realized how much Gauguin owed to Cézanne" (in The Fauves, London, 1962, p. 227). Manguin's preference for clearly delineated contours and accents is evident in the present painting in the delicately twisting arabesques of the tree branches. They are employed here in a rhythmical arrangement to describe the space in the composition as it recedes toward a vanishing point at a distant curve in the woodland path.
The most appealing aspect of Manguin's painting, of course, lies in his luxuriant sense of color. Reviewing an exhibition held at Galerie Druet in 1910, Guillaume Apollinaire, the great poet and aficionado of avant-garde painting, declared, "M. Manguin is a voluptuous painter. Colorist that he is, Manguin confines himself to the expression of contrasts that produce flashes of half-livid, half-flesh-colored light His wonderstruck landscapes tell of the young glory of natural sites in June, after sunrise" (in L.C. Breunig, ed., Apollinaire on Art, New York, 1972, p. 100).
(fig. 1) Postcard of Cavalière sent by Marquet to Matisse, who later added the humorous sketches of figures.