Charles Dufresne, In Guadeloupe, Oil On Paper

Charles Dufresne (1876-1938)
À la Gadeloupe
Oil on paper
Signed lower right
30 x 40 cm

Born in 1876, Charles Dufresne belongs to the Fauves generation. He received academic training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the workshop of medalist Ponscarme. His first works are those of a wise artist whose production is inspired by reality. In 1903, he became a member of the Salon de la Société nationale and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants. Dunoyer de Segonzac, Despiau, Waroquier then Ceria became his friends.

His stay in Algeria between 1910 and 1912 is a revelation which considerably marks his artistic development. In contact with oriental nature, he awakens to distant lands and exotic landscapes.

During the war, he executed drawings and watercolors in a cubist spirit which often had an imaginary character. On his return, memories of his Algerian stay reappeared and he painted scenes of oriental hunting, jungles and exotic landscapes. These canvases in dark tones of green and brown, are of great density. While relying on rigorous construction, like the Cubists, the painter does not deal with the depth of space. He brushes with a large palette, simple volumes processed in a dense material.

Around 1930, Dufresne freed himself from academic constraints and expressed himself in dazzling lyricism. He completely renews himself to approach compositions with multiple figures and becomes more wild, breaking up the colors, exalting the tones with an unreal light, in an expanded and constructed space, where his search for movement joins his admiration for Baroque painters. He became a great French Baroque with his sense of eloquence, lyricism and instinct for decoration which made him the Delacroix of modern times.

His works are kept in numerous museums in France and abroad including the Center Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Calvet Museum in Avignon, the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon, the Fabre Museum in Montpellier , the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Art Institute of Chicago.