Louis Bonamici (1878-1966) "sailors Ravauding Their Net, Martigues" Provencal School, Pastour

Superb canvas by Louis Bonamici representing two sailors mending their nets on a beach, signed lower right. Size without frame 38x46cm. It is indeed a very beautiful post-impressionist composition with a Fauve tendency by Louis Bonamici who paints here one of his favorite subjects, sailors at work, here two who are mending their nets on a beach near their boat, maybe -being in Martigues, but the painter has also worked in Marseille, Saint-Tropez, Hyères, Antibes... As usual, his drawing is perfect, he captures the scene as well as possible, his touch with a knife is powerful and above all extremely rich in matter, and of course its lively and colorful palette, in short pure and hard Bonamici in all its splendor. Indeed Bonamici is one of the few southern painters who have made a specialty of painting the Cote d'Azur and its activities, often around fishing, sometimes market scenes, pastorals... especially between 1920 and 1950. There were some like Laurent Mattio (see other painting for sale), Louis Pastour, Van den Bergh, or Gustave Vidal and Joseph Hurard, closest to Avignon. Like Mattio, Bonamici was of Italian origin, he was actually born in Italy in Livorno in 1878. He was destined for painting very early on. His panels or his oils on canvas represent seascapes, scenes of ports, fishing, creeks but also bouquets of flowers, rural landscapes, more rarely village scenes, all in a Provence bathed in sunshine, as in bear witness to his paintings of tartanes in Martigues. Louis Bonamici always uses the technique of painting with a knife like his contemporary Louis Pastour and sometimes that of watercolor. Some art critics see him as a distant pupil of Adolphe Monticelli. The artist is very present in the painting salons between 1907 and 1935 in Martigues, Cannes, Nice, Toulon, Paris or Marseille. He also painted in Italy, notably in Venice, Greece and North Africa. His trip to North America in 1923-24 is immortalized by his views of California and exhibited in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York during the interwar period. His abundant production ensured the painter a certain financial ease thanks to a network of renowned gallery owners who opened the doors of fame to him wherever he exhibited: Moullot in Marseille, Armand Drouant or Georges Petit in Paris, John Levy in New York. He was appointed Navy painter in 1921. The current art market bears witness to Louis Bonamici's past reputation. The price of his works remains stable, without however reaching the amounts of paintings by regional masters such as François Nardi or Laurent Mattio. Mostly present in regional public auction rooms (Toulon, Marseille, Cannes), Bonamici appears a few times in national auctions at the Hôtel Drouot. Anglo-Saxon auction houses such as Christie's or Sotheby's offer Mediterranean paintings by the master on rare occasions. In the 1930s, Louis Bonamici moved to Le Lavandou where he remained until his death in 1966. This original canvas is in very good condition, it was very recently cleaned by a professional. Delivered at this price in an old frame, repainted and gilded later. Guaranteed authentic work