Provenance
France, Private Collection.
“I haven’t forgotten the heroic period of the Independents – when we were gathered around Paul Signac, the charming valiant Maximilien Luce – in those digs where living authentic Art regrouped outside of academic formulae – or literary systematic tendancies – which had to lead to this abstract aesthetic which is killing painting” (in a letter to the painter Maurice Boitel in the 1950’s).
André Dunoyer de Segonzac, although not particularly interested in contemporary formal aesthetic revolutions, nonetheless frequented and was very close to the early 20th century avant-gardists. Friends with Paul Poiret, Max Jacob, Raoul Dufy, Maurice de Vlaminck, André Derain, Paul Signac, and Maximilien Luce, he nonetheless never adhered to any of the grand aesthetic movements of the early century. In fact, from the beginning of his career, Dunoyer de Segonzac undertook, along with the engraver Jean-Louis Boussingault and Luc-Albert Moreau, the resurrection of realism in a style descended from Gustave Courbet by concentrating on still lifes, nudes, and landscapes. While cubist deconstruction sometimes inspired him for his drawings, he never sought the total abstraction of forms.
He was an excellent draughtsman and engraver, with techniques which allowed him to concentrate on line and form which always displayed great precision and a certain graphic rigor. As in our beautiful still life, his style remained marked by chromatic restraint and his palette was limited to dark shades mainly dominated by ochres, earth tones, and dark reds. In this composition, the carafe and table blend into the surroundings, almost disappear into the brown background of the watercolor, and finally only exist on account of the ink design which isolates their forms in silhouettes.
The artist considered watercolor as a medium in itself, more complete than drawing and responsive to his graphic demands as painting was not. Here, the initial ink drawing reigns over the entire still life, it never disappears under the color. Only a few touches of pure color, such as the orangey yellow of the fruit or the blue of the dish towel, suffice to give volume to the whole composition.
The geometric bias that dominates the depicted objects also modulates the sensation of flatness. Dunoyer de Segonzac shows a real preference for massive simplified forms with angular lines. This aesthetic can be seen in the watercolors from this period, such as in the Still Life with Wild Peaches of 1943.
André Dunoyer de Segonzac led a successful international career with a voyage to the United States in 1928. Throughout his career, he exhibited in the Salon of Autumn and Independents in Paris. Called up for the Infantry in 1914, he produced numerous war sketches mainly of his fellow infantrymen. These moving images which serve as witnesses to the war can be found today in collections across the world (including a certain number in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.) A retrospective of his oeuvre was shown in Paris at the Durand-Ruel Gallery shortly before his death in 1972.
J.C.
Bibliography :
Anne DISTEL, A. Dunoyer de Segonzac , Les maîtres de la peinture moderne collection, Paris Flammarion, 1980.
