Antoine Ferrari (1910-1995) The Olive Trees

Passion and power organized by brushes and brushes that dance on the canvas to the sound of the colors; Antoine Ferrari's painting has something violent and musical, a vibration and an energy without equal, dancing with the flight of a first jet, and at the same time very present in this great Provençal artist to rediscover. The work that can be dated to the 50s is done in oil on canvas, it is offered in a modern silver gray frame that measures 64 cm by 75 cm and 50 cm by 61 cm for the painting alone. In excellent condition, it is signed lower right and represents olive trees, certainly in the Alpes de Haute Provence where the artist liked to set up his easel.

A student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Marseille, he gave up the security of the tailor's trade that his father practiced. This choice pushed him to break with his family. At seventeen, he left for Paris with two sculptor friends Morenon and Cadenat. To survive, he worked in a theatre set design workshop, which allowed him to take classes at the Beaux Arts in Paris. He exhibited in Marseille in 1928, with the Jeune Peinture du moment at Guibert. The following year, he met Pierre Ambrogiani. From 1930, his hometown subsidized his studies in Paris. In 1937, he won the Abd-el-Tif Prize, a scholarship that allowed him to spend two years in Algiers; there, he acquired his frank expression of color. Moreover, from his early days in Paris, he retained an admiration - notably in such a red splendor or green oath - for Soutine, whose studio he took over on rue Saint Gothard. Landscapes play a large part in his work, as do the seascapes of the Old Port. But he does not neglect portraits, for which he has a predilection. Similarly, large nudes, bright bouquets and still lifes are found in every period of his work. His gesture, which after much reflection came off like a whip, made him an impulsive painter, undoubtedly the most expressionist of the Contemporary Provençals. Van Dongen admired his talent and had him admitted to the Salon d'Automne in 1927.