Raoul Dufy - Ascot. Oil on canvas. 1925. ca. 38... Lot 708

Raoul Dufy - Ascot. Oil on canvas. 1925. ca. 38 x 46 cm. Signed lower center. - Very popular horse racing scene from the royal racecourse at Ascot - depiction of elegant ladies, dandies and jockeys - colorful and multi-figured composition Raoul Dufy's pictorial motifs are initially influenced by his hometown of Le Havre and show mainly harbor views or bathing and beach scenes. Typical are his sweeping brushstrokes, Fauvist simplified forms and his preference for bright and strong colors, mostly watercolors. Even later on the Côte d'Azur, seaside resorts with strolling vacationers and residents on palm-lined avenues are his favorite motifs. Raoul Dufy's fascination with horse racing goes back to his collaboration with the Parisian fashion designer Paul Poiret (1879-1944). As early as 1909, Poiret commissioned the artist to design his own stationery for his fashion house "La maison Paul Poiret" as well as textile patterns for fabrics and garments. Poiret's elegant gowns are worn by ladies to the horse races in Paris, Nice, Deauville and the even more fashionable English racing events at Epsom and Ascot. The fashion designer encourages Dufy to go directly to the racetracks to observe the socializing of the spectators before the actual horse races begin and sketch the silhouettes of their dresses. Dufy was immediately attracted to the exhilarating atmosphere of the racetrack, and in 1913 he began to artistically realize the theme of horse racing for the first time. His early watercolor depictions of the Deauville racetrack show the exceedingly elegant crowd of ladies and dandies, as well as the jockeys, in a highly stylized manner. In the 1920s, his attention then turned increasingly to the clothing of the public. Thus he devoted a whole series of gouaches to Poiret's mannequins, which he captured in still, almost frieze-like compositions clearly influenced by the fashion advertising of the 1920s. During trips to London, Dufy had several opportunities to also visit the horse races at Ascot, Epsom, and Goodwood, as well as the sailing regattas at Cowes and Henley. The painting "Ascot" from 1925 is a lively and vivid depiction of this typically English summer tradition. To this end, Dufy perfectly captures the expectant atmosphere before the horse race begins. He again focuses on the sophisticated society still milling about at the back of the grandstands, with only four horses with jockeys visible in between. Perhaps to bring the people even more into focus, Dufy again glazes over the grandstand buildings in the background so that the characteristic stairways and spectator balconies are only faintly visible. This turns the striking red building into a kind of backdrop for the elegantly dressed people in the foreground, and the green lawn into their stage. Royal Ascot Race Week is still a major social event at Britain's oldest racecourse, opened in 1711. The horse racing subjects by Raoul Dufy are highly sought after on the international auction market and rarely found on the German market in this quality. Numbered "No.6" and "208" on the verso of the stretcher and with small typographic label "208" and French customs stamps. With a photographic expertise by Fanny Guillon-Laffaille, Paris, dated 17.3.2000. The work will be included in the second addendum of the catalog raisonné, which is in preparation. Provenance: Galerie M. Bénézit, Paris; collection Mr. & Mrs. Hirsch, acquired 1959 from the aforementioned; private collection, Paris; Sotheby's, New York 11.5.2000, lot 196; private collection, Monaco; private collection, Switzerland. Taxation: Differential tax plus 7% VAT: Margin Scheme (non EU)