36 - Duilio (Dubè) Barnabé

Duilio (Dubè) Barnabé (Italian, 1914-1961) Cardinal Rouge, c. 1961 oil on canvas signed Barnabé (lower right) 18 x 13 in. (45.7 x 33 cm) This lot is located in Philadelphia. Framed: 21 x 16 x 1 in. The unlined canvas is in overall very good condition, with some light surface soiling. There is a tiny spot of accretion at center in the white apron area at right. Under UV light, there is varnish visible and there is a small approx. 1 in. vertical line at bottom left that is not visible under raking light. Additional images available upon request. Provenance: Jacques Richard Maire, Geneva, Switzerland, acquired c. 1969. By descent in the family. Nicolas Philippe Maire Dalla Piazza, grandson of the original collector, Les Clefs d’Or, Madrid, Spain. Lot Note: Duilio (Dubè) Barnabé painted Cardinal Rouge at the end of his life, at a time when he was questioning his long-held religious beliefs and his faith in art itself. The powerful, stark image of a cardinal, a common theme for the artist, positions the figure in front of an austere background, cast in shadow. Barnabé returned to the motifs of nuns and other religious figures, as well as landscapes and still lifes throughout his short career, promptedby his early teacher in Bologna, Giorgio Morandi, and later invigorated by the work of Pablo Picasso he saw in Paris in 1947. Permanently relocating from Italy to Paris with his wife, the sculptor, Angiola Cassanello, in the 1940s, Barnabé gained wider recognition there and also began working with the furniture and design firm Fontana Arte to bring his graphic designs to a more popular audience.