RAOUL DUFY, (1877-1953)

Le retour des régates

Le retour des régates
signed, inscribed and dated 'Deauville Raoul Dufy 1933' (lower left)
oil on canvas
46.7 x 110cm (18 3/8 x 43 5/16in).
Painted in Deauville in 1933

Provenance
M. Bignou Collection (by 1936).
Perls Galleries, New York, no. 3311.
Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 8 May 2002, lot 300.
Kunsthandel Frans Jacobs, Amsterdam.
Private collection, The Netherlands (acquired from the above on 24 October 2002).

Exhibited
Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Section of the Thirty Third Carnegie International Exhibition of Paintings, 1 March – 19 April 1936, no. 78.

Literature
M. Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Vol. II, Geneva, 1973, no. 864 (illustrated p. 351).

Le retour des régates was executed in Deauville in 1933 and stems from one of Raoul Dufy's most iconic subjects. Boat races were painted by the artist on numerous occasions throughout both France and Great Britain: in fact, the subject first appeared in Dufy's work in 1907 and remained an important theme throughout his practice. Executed on a canvas measuring over a metre long, Les retour des régates is one of the largest regatta scenes ever to appear at auction and was painted at the height of the artist's career.

In the early twentieth century, Deauville developed into a go-to resort for high society due to its proximity to Paris. With a racecourse, a casino and a harbour, the small town provided entertainment throughout the year. The many festivities that were held established an influx of tourists and formed the ideal environment for Dufy to paint en plein air. The artist could observe the pastimes of the French upper-class from behind the easel, and the joyous and dynamic atmosphere allowed him to experiment with movement and colour.

Born on the northern coast of France in the city of Le Havre, the artist was fascinated by the ocean from a young age as he would stand on shore watching the activities around the water's edge. Dufy considered the sea as a backdrop for lively spectacles, and it formed the ultimate location to observe the ever changing light effects: 'Unhappy the man who lives in a climate far from the sea, or unfed by the sparkling waters of a river!...The painter constantly needs to be able to see a certain quality of light, a flickering, an airy palpitation bathing what he sees' (Dufy, quoted in D. Perez-Tibi, Dufy, New York, 1989, p. 158).

Dufy scrutinised the boat racing theme over the course of his career, which resulted in an array of works on the subject. It allowed the artist to experiment with various structures and colour arrangements in his compositions and he mastered a uniquely free and dynamic style. In the present painting Le retour des régates, the viewer observes the sailing boats returning to the harbour after racing on a sunny day at sea. Dufy captures the scene as seen through the eyes of the sailors in the advancing boats, giving the viewer the sensation that they too are within the composition. With the wind blowing in their sails, the boats navigate towards maritime flags situating the harbour with the shore emerging in the background.

Instead of carefully delineated details, Dufy employed bold and rigorous brushwork to create stylized forms on the two-dimensional picture plane. A dazzling palette of blue hues accentuate the sky and sea, evoking the atmospheric climate of his lively design. The present work is proof of the artist's masterful colour technique. In an interview with Pierre Courthion, Dufy elaborated on his choice of colour: 'Blue is the only color which keeps its own individuality across the spectrum. Take blue with its different nuances, from the darkest to the lightest; it will always be blue, whereas yellow darkens in shadow and fades out in lighter parts, dark red becomes brown and when diluted with white, it isn't red any more, but another color: pink' (Dufy quoted in P. Courthion, Raoul Dufy, Geneva, 1951, p. 52).

Le retour des régates captures the spirit and influence of the Fauves, with whom Dufy exhibited following his encounter with Henri Matisse's seminal work Luxe, Calme et Volupté at the Salon des Indépendants in 1905. Being exposed to such daring work encouraged the young artist to experiment with a wider palette. As Dufy himself emphasised: 'colour captures the light that forms and animates the group as a whole. Every object or group of objects is placed within its own area of light and shade, receiving its share of reflections and being subjected to the arrangement decided by the artist' (Dufy quoted in D. Perez-Tibi, op. cit., p. 150).

The 1930s are regarded as the apex of Dufy's career, as his work started to receive institutional attention and was widely acknowledged across continents. In 1932 the Musée de Luxembourg in Paris acquired one of his works for their permanent collection, and by 1936 Dufy received several important public commissions in Paris, most notably the mural for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne.

In the same year, the present painting Les retour des régates was included in the thirty-third edition of the prestigious Carnegie International exhibition, held in the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. This show was initiated in 1896 by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and was the first exhibition with an international allure in North America. In 1936 the show served as an annual survey to identify international trends in avant-garde art to inspire and educate the public. Dufy's work was exhibited alongside paintings by artists such as George Braque and Pierre Bonnard. Other participants of the Carnegie International included Camille Pissarro, Salvador Dalí and Jackson Pollock.

Raoul Dufy's spirited and bright compositions remain intrinsic to the art historical discourse of today, particularly his regatta paintings. Comparable works to Les retour des régates can be found in major public collections including the Musée d'Arte Moderne de la Ville in Paris, the Tate Modern in London and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.