63 - Auguste CHABAUD (Nîmes 1882 – Mas de Martin, Graveson 1955)

Auguste CHABAUD (Nîmes 1882 – Mas de Martin, Graveson 1955) The Farmhouse Oil on cardboard 53.5 x 76 cm Signed lower left: A Chabaud Bears the number 2632 on the back Bears the old typewritten label: Auguste Chabaud, *Le mas* (H.s. C) No. 2632, Hyères Exhibition 1996 A certificate of authenticity from Mrs. Monique Laidi Chabaud will be provided to the buyer. Provenance: Private collection, Marseille After spending his youth in Nîmes, Avignon, and Paris, followed by several years devoted to his Fauvist and Expressionist explorations, Auguste Chabaud chose, in the aftermath of World War I, to settle permanently in Graveson, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department. There, he reclaimed the Mas de Martin, a family estate at the foot of the Montagnette, which became both his home and the primary source of his inspiration. Provence, which had never truly ceased to inspire him, now took center stage in his work. Beginning in the 1920s, Chabaud thus developed a style of painting deeply rooted in his region. The landscapes of the Alpilles, farmland, villages, local residents, and scenes of daily life were all subjects he observed throughout the seasons. In particular, the Mas de Martin became a recurring motif, depicted through its buildings, surroundings, and rural environment. The three views presented here reflect this special attachment to his estate, whose various facets he never ceased to explore. Far from limiting himself to depicting the Provençal landscape, the artist is also interested in the people who inhabit it and bring it to life. The figure of a man resting in the shade of a tree thus evokes the rhythm of agricultural life and the close relationship between man and the land. Similarly, the interior scene depicting two women sitting in a kitchen reflects Chabaud’s interest in domestic intimacy and everyday gestures. These seemingly modest subjects are fully in line with his desire to capture the identity of a rural world to which he is deeply connected. The 1940s and 1950s marked the artist’s final major creative period. Chabaud continued his exploration of the familiar landscapes of Provence, focusing on the surrounding countryside, family scenes, and interiors. The year 1949, as indicated by one of the works on display, places this piece squarely within that final decade of his creative output. Instantly recognizable, Chabaud’s painting retains a strong visual identity, inherited from his early Fauvist experiments. The intense, deep colors, the deliberately simplified forms, and the thick black outlines that emphasize the silhouettes are the hallmarks of his pictorial language. However, behind this vigorous expression lies a deeply endearing and sensitive vision, closely tied to Provence—its landscapes and its people.