André DERAIN (1880-1954)

Portrait de jeune femme à l'épaule dénudée Oil on canvas, signed and situated lower right 18 1/4 x 15 in. And here we find the portrait of a smiling young woman, wearing her red hair in a high chignon, her right shoulder bared. Her flaming hair, rosy cheeks and vermilion lips are set off by a powerfully contrasting and unexpected green background. Derain was always fascinated by ballet and opera; perhaps this is a portrait of one of the stars of that glittering world? André Derain was born on 10 June 1880 and died on 8 September 1954 in Garches. With Matisse, whom he joined in Colloure in 1905, he founded Fauvism, one of the 20th century’s most important aesthetic revolutions. He exhibited at the 1905 Salon d’Automne with other Fauve artists like Matisse, Vlaminck, Braque and Marquet, and was represented by the leading dealer Ambroise Vollard. A self-taught artist with a curious mind, before attending the Académie Julian he visited museums and explored poetry and literature, which nourished his aesthetic thinking. Derain portraiture ici son jeune fils, avec un sourire esquissé et le regard perdu dans ses pensées. Bien que les couleurs utilisées soient sombres, le cadrage resserré sur le visage juvénile et doux de ce fils chéri montre la tendresse paternelle. Il saisit sur le vif un moment de la vie quotidienne et l’effronterie d’un petit garçon. Here Derain gives us the portrait of his young son with a little smile and eyes gazing into the distance. Though the colours are dark, the close-up view of the sweet young face of this beloved child conveys his father’s affection. Derain captures an instant in the everyday life of a cheeky little boy on the spot. The young painter was called up between 1914 and 1919, and the war profoundly affected his return to art. He turned away from Fauvism and the Cubism of Braque and Picasso, and broke with the Avantgardes. His painting became darker and more classical, and w