Raoul DufyAvant les Courses, Before the Races, Deauville. 1938-53.

( €8,750  $9,500 )

Original lithograph in colours. Drawn 1935/38. Signed with the artist's signature stamp (no impressions were pencil signed - see edition notes  below). Numbered in pencil from the edition of 75. (There were also 20 proof impressions). Drawn at the Atelier Mourlot in 1935/38. The edition was first printed at the Mourlot Studio in 1949/50. First issued for the Mourlot Centenary Album, Paris 1953.

 

Note: Dufy drew this lithograph on the stones in the late 1930's but due to the war it was not actually editioned at Mourlot's studio until 1949/50. Dufy supervised the editioning but was not able to sign the prints by hand due to his health. Mourlot then did not offer the lithographs for sale as he wanted to keep them until he issued his special portfolio celebrating the centenary of the Mourlot studio in 1953.

Excellent impression with brilliant colours. On pale cream wove Arches paper. Excellent condition. Full margins. Sheet: 502x655mm. 19 3/4 x 25 3/4ins. Image: 430x588mm. 17 x 23 1/8ins.

One of the very greatest early 20th century colourist artists Raoul Dufy and themes of horse racing are inextricably linked together. Rapid line and brushwork and his special understanding of how to capture the movement of animals, jockeys and the crowds of race-goers with flickering but glowing colours is expressed to the full in his horse-racing works.

There are very few racing images in Dufy’s oeuvre in colour lithography; this is one of the very finest.