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Lot n° 297
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- Lot 297
Achille-Emile Othon FRIESZ (1879-1949) Still Life in the Studio, circa 1943 Oil on canvas Signed lower left 65 x 81 cm Beautiful frame from the Maison Gault, rue Bonaparte in Paris (label on the back "Les Cadres RG") The Galerie Aittouares, responsible for the catalog raisonné, has provided us with the certificate of inclusion in the Archives of the catalog raisonné. An extraordinary discovery, this corner of the studio, of such freshness and elegance that the artist seems to have been absent from the place, just long enough to let us admire his composition. A stylistic synthesis, like a musical score, on which Friesz unfolds his Fauvist and Cézanne harmonics, his artistic heritage. But beyond these chords, it is a personal, family history that the painter transcribes in this still life. The particularity of this composition resides in a book, the key to reading the pictorial work, which attracts the eye by its title. It is Falk, a short story published in April 1903 by Joseph Conrad in the collection Typhoon and Other Stories, published by Heinemann in London. It was translated into French by Georges Jean-Aubry, published by Gallimard, in 1934, with the subtitle Un souvenir. It is precisely a copy in French that is placed on the table. The few lines of the presentation of the novel summarize its content: "a vague story about the a vague story about a certain Falk, the owner of a tugboat, who had won his wife by playing cards with the captain of an English ship. Why this book? It actually echoes the adventurous life of the young Norman Émile but also - and especially - of his ancestors. Falk recounts the memories of the writer Joseph Conrad, then a sea captain, who embarked in 1888 in Singapore on the steamer Melita to take command of the Otago in Bangkok. The painter's personal family history is intimately linked to the sea: his grandfather, a navigator, had distinguished himself by charting the coasts of the French West Indies. His father, Anthime, was also a sea captain. His mother Eucharis Lachesney-Friesz, of Norman descent, was born to colonial parents in Martinique (the famous békés), which explains the originality of her first name and that of her son Othon, borrowed from Creole fashion (Robert Martin/Odile Aittouarès, Émile Othon Friesz L'Œuvre peint, Paris, Ed Aittouarès, 1995, t I, p 11). Moreover, at the age of 17, the young Émile Othon had embarked clandestinely at Le Havre in the hold of a Danish ship. Quickly discovered and disembarked, his desire to escape had only become stronger (ibid, p 13). It is not difficult to imagine how much this news must have spoken to the painter's heart. Also, when he assiduously took refuge, during the period of the German Occupation, in his Parisian studio, at 73 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs (a studio he owned from 1914 until his death), he put back in order his intimate universe "built on 30 years of memories that he had forgotten" (ibid , p 40). Eclectic objects and books litter the floor and shelves, and Friesz works ardently on them, encouraged by the Galerie Pétridès. In fact, we find in this composition elements that appear in other still lifes, notably: Coin de l'atelier, oil on canvas signed and dated 43 (lower left), 65.1 x 81.4 cm, from the Galerie O Pétridès, Sotheby's Paris sale, 30 May 2012, lot no. 51. The round table, pewter tray, and green drapery are featured. As well as in: Nature morte à la bouteille, verre et vase, oil on canvas signed (lower right), 54 x 65 cm, from a private collection in Monaco, sale Accademia Fine Art, Palais de la Plage, Monaco, December 17, 2018, lot no. 91, featuring the round table, the bowl with Asian motifs, the oriental pipe and the green drapery. The frame, of excellent workmanship, comes from the house of Gault as evidenced by the label on the back of the work. A specialist in carved wood frames, the store on rue Bonaparte had moved to the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1936.
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