1929, Raoul Dufy, Race Track at Deauville, the Start -- Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge)
From the museum label: Though he initially worked in an impressionist style, Dufy’s practice as a designer and painter was characterized by the use of bright, flat colors. He developed this style after encountering the art of Henri Matisse and the Fauves at the Salon d’Automne in 1905, the newly inaugurated annual exhibition of modern art in Paris. Dufy often depicted horse races, regattas, and other upper-class amusements, and he produced more than thirteen paintings of the racetrack at Deauville, Normandy, including this one. Here he applies vibrant blues, greens, and purples in transparent washes that burst through the outlines meant to confine them, while the calligraphic lines that define the spectators and chairs on the lawn lend a sense of movement and spontaneity to the scene. The decorative qualities of this and other works by Dufy stem from his collaboration with the fashion designer Paul Poiret and the silk manufacturer Bianchini Férier between 1912 and 1928.
1929, Raoul Dufy, Race Track at Deauville, the Start -- Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge)
From the museum label: Though he initially worked in an impressionist style, Dufy’s practice as a designer and painter was characterized by the use of bright, flat colors. He developed this style after encountering the art of Henri Matisse and the Fauves at the Salon d’Automne in 1905, the newly inaugurated annual exhibition of modern art in Paris. Dufy often depicted horse races, regattas, and other upper-class amusements, and he produced more than thirteen paintings of the racetrack at Deauville, Normandy, including this one. Here he applies vibrant blues, greens, and purples in transparent washes that burst through the outlines meant to confine them, while the calligraphic lines that define the spectators and chairs on the lawn lend a sense of movement and spontaneity to the scene. The decorative qualities of this and other works by Dufy stem from his collaboration with the fashion designer Paul Poiret and the silk manufacturer Bianchini Férier between 1912 and 1928.