Jacques MAJORELLE (1886-1962) The Kasbah of Anemiter,... Lot 128

Jacques MAJORELLE (1886-1962) The Kasbah of Anemiter, view of the terraces, Ounila valley (Grand Atlas), 1950 Mixed media on isorel. Signed, located and dated lower left. 65 x 81,5 cm PROVENANCE: former collection of Paul Coquelin; by descent. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Félix Marcilhac and Amélie Marcilhac, Catalogue raisonné of Jacques Majorelle, Norma Editions, Paris, 2017, reproduced in color under n°162, p.275. The Kasbah of Anemiter was one of Majorelle's favorite villages. Cubically structured, ochre and orange, the color of the Moroccan earth, it is a masterpiece of traditional Berber architecture. A variant in oil exists, very close to our kasbah (cf. Jacques Majorelle exhibition, Nancy and Institut du Monde Arabe 1999-2000, reproduced in the catalog, p. 9), but by the finesse of the brush, the freshness of the coloring and the monumentality of the composition, our gouache is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of the series. We can compare Majorelle's approach to that of the impressionist painter Claude Monet who, on the same site, executes a large number of versions at different times of day (Cathedrals of Rouen). These variations are induced each time by the variations of the sunlight. As for Majorelle, he varies in his paintings the season or the time of day, the viewpoints and the distance at which he will place his easel.