Beschreibung:

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FRENCH COLLECTION MAURICE DE VLAMINCK (1876-1958) Nature morte signed 'Vlaminck' (lower left) oil on canvas 65.5 x 54cm (25 13/16 x 21 1/4in). Painted circa 1908 Fußnoten This work is accompanied by a letter of inclusion from the Wildenstein Institute. Provenance Private collection, The Netherlands. Galerie Noortman, The Netherlands. Lord Kennet Collection, UK (by 1957). The Grosvenor Gallery (possibly Eric Estorick Collection), London. Burt Lancaster Collection (acquired from the above); his estate sale, Christie's, New York, 14 November 1996, lot 163. Private collection, France (acquired at the above sale). Exhibited London, Crane Kalman Gallery, A selection of paintings by M. de Vlaminck, June 1957, no. 2. Nature morte, a 1908 canvas by the French painter Maurice de Vlaminck exemplifies a turning point in the artist's development. Greatly influenced by Van Gogh, Vlaminck went on to have a crucial role in the group of artists referred to as Les Fauves. Alongside his peer Derain, Vlaminck produced some of the defining works of this movement based around expression and unbridled colour. Following a 1907 retrospective of Cézanne's work however, he turned away from Fauvism towards a more muted palette and an interest in construction and form. This shift can be seen in the present work, most notably the Cézannesque contouring of the oranges, and the interest in still life displayed in this work. The Fauvist movement began to lose steam around 1907-08, and the influence of Cubism became more evident. De Vlaminck noted of his changing style that in painting 'directly tube against canvas, one soon becomes too slick' continuing with the statement, 'I regretfully realized that my composition was reduced to no more than a series of coloured rhythms, harmonious, discordant, monotonous and that, from simplification to simplification, I was falling into the trap of decoration...The decorative spirit was leading me to forget painting' (M. de Vlaminck, Tournant Dangereux, Paris, 1929 [taken from the translation by M. Ross, New York, 1966], p. 15). Nature morte is a powerful work from an important date, as it was painted in the same year of De Vlaminck's first solo exhibition that was held at Ambroise Vollard's gallery in Paris. Along with its exceptional provenance, as it was formerly in the collection of Eric Estorick and Hollywood actor Burt Lancaster, this composition is one of the key examples of De Vlaminck's early oeuvre.