.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming Kees van Dongen Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.
After Van Dongen achieved critical success at the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d’Automne of 1904, his career took off; shortly thereafter the Galerie Vollard held his first solo-exhibition. Critics noted that Van Dongen painted with passion in a dynamic style with vivid colors and free forms which he shared with the Fauve painters. Throughout his career, Van Dongen maintained this expressive, exuberant style of painting.
In 1917, the fashion director Léa (Jasmy) Jacob introduced Van Dongen into the life of the beau monde, the new fashionable circle in Paris. After painting prostitutes and cabaret singers, Van Dongen turned his attention to the glamour of high society after World War I. He swiftly became the most fashionable portrait painter in 1920s Paris. In the summer, he followed the city’s elite to the luxurious beach resorts of Cannes and Deauville, which attracted vacationers and artists alike to their picturesque boardwalks, sandy beaches, casinos and racecourses. In Cannes, la femme au chien, Van Dongen portrays a young woman with an umbrella walking along the glistening seaside with her pet dog; the figures’ reflections are echoed by the artist’s signature, to which he cleverly added its own reflection on the wet strand.
After Van Dongen achieved critical success at the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d’Automne of 1904, his career took off; shortly thereafter the Galerie Vollard held his first solo-exhibition. Critics noted that Van Dongen painted with passion in a dynamic style with vivid colors and free forms which he shared with the Fauve painters. Throughout his career, Van Dongen maintained this expressive, exuberant style of painting.
In 1917, the fashion director Léa (Jasmy) Jacob introduced Van Dongen into the life of the beau monde, the new fashionable circle in Paris. After painting prostitutes and cabaret singers, Van Dongen turned his attention to the glamour of high society after World War I. He swiftly became the most fashionable portrait painter in 1920s Paris. In the summer, he followed the city’s elite to the luxurious beach resorts of Cannes and Deauville, which attracted vacationers and artists alike to their picturesque boardwalks, sandy beaches, casinos and racecourses. In Cannes, la femme au chien, Van Dongen portrays a young woman with an umbrella walking along the glistening seaside with her pet dog; the figures’ reflections are echoed by the artist’s signature, to which he cleverly added its own reflection on the wet strand.