39 - Albert Marquet

Albert Marquet (Bordeaux, 1875 — Paris, 1947) Le Port de Fécamp — Fécamp, été 1906 Summer 1906 Oil on canvas Signed lower right Old labels on the back 65 × 81 cm; with frame: 85.5 × 102.5 cm Of all the paintings from this period by Albert Marquet, it is this view of the port of Fécamp, painted during the summer of 1906, that curators at national museums have chosen to illustrate Fauvism in exhibitions and reference works (Exhibitions in Paris, 1951; Paris/Munich, 1966; Dorival 1957). Louis XIV frame, Montanari no. 414 Albert Marquet discovered Normandy with his friend Raoul Dufy. He returned to Fécamp at the end of July 1906, where he rented a room at the Café Duhamel on the Quai de la Vicomté. From the window, he could see the harbor, whose topography he faithfully depicted. One can recognize the outer harbor bordered by the Grand Quai and, in the background, the cliff dominated by the Vierge Lighthouse and the Church of Notre-Dame-du-Salut. There was room for doubt. The curator of the Le Havre museum returned the painting—which the government had purchased and sought to attribute to him—to his counterpart in Quimper. In Paris that year, critics such as Louis Vauxcelles had very warmly welcomed the Normandy views that the Fauvist Marquet presented at the Salon d’Automne. Provenance - Galerie Druet, Paris (Druet Album A, pl. 43 – Photo No. 22134) - Former André Morisset collection, documented between 1948 and 1966 (labels on the back) - Private collection, Paris, documented in 1976, then transferred through successive sales to Mr. X. - Private collection, Paris Archives et documentation Photographic Archive Albert Marquet Research Archives and Galerie Druet Records, The Wildenstein Plattner Institute Inc., Druet Album A, pl. 43, “The Port of Fécamp, 1906 ” Historique des ventes At Artcurial, in Paris, on June 5, 2025, “Impressionist & Modern,” lot 161. Exhibitions Possibly in 1907, Paris, Galerie Druet, no. 35 1948, October–December, Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, “Albert Marquet,” no. 97 (label on the back) 1951, June–September, Paris, Musée national d’Art moderne, “Fauvism,” no. 81 (label on the back) 1953, October–December, Paris, Maison de la Pensée Française, “Albert Marquet,” no. 15 (label on the back) 1966, January–May, Paris, National Museum of Modern Art; Munich, Haus der Kunst, “French Fauvism and the Beginnings of German Expressionism,” no. 70 (label on the back), reproduced in the catalog on p. 122 and dated 1905 1967, February–April, Nice, Palais de la Méditerranée, “Albert Marquet,” February–April, no. 79 (label on the back) 1967, May 17–June 17, Paris, Galerie Schmit, “Marquet,” no. 23 (label on the back) 1975, May 9–September 7, Bordeaux, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, no. 23 (label on the back) Littérature Bernard Dorival, Painters of the 20th Century: Nabis – Fauves – Cubists, Paris, P. Tisné, 1957, reproduced in color on p. 50 and dated 1905 S. Negri and S. Venturi, Van Dongen and the Fauves, Paris, CELIV, 1990, reproduced in color on plate 77 and dated 1905 Rapport de condition In daylight, the painted surface is perfectly stable and clean. On the reverse, the canvas is old; the stretcher is original. The painting has sustained extremely fine tears, which have been perfectly repaired using a transfer technique, making the restoration invisible under ultraviolet light.