Ferdinand Ausquichoury (1871-1953) Le Coly In Condat Sur Vézère Dordogne

Dominique-Ferdinand AUSQUICHOURY
(Bordeaux 1871 – Caudéran 1953)
Le Coly à Condat
Oil on panel
H. 27 cm; W. 35 cm
Signed lower left and dated 1935
Located and dated on the back

Exhibition: 1936, Exposition des Amis des Arts, n°17

The work and career of this artist are poorly documented, if not non-existent. Before understanding the artist, it was necessary to understand the man whose only traces are those left by the booklets of Bordeaux exhibitions. These, certainly according to his own statements, give him birth in Bordeaux, then in Ascain or even in Guéthary depending on the period. What should we see there? A desire for exoticism for greater consistency with his name and his Basque origins? Was his grandfather, Joachim, a customs officer, born there? Mentioned as a student of Louis Cabié in the Salon booklets, Ausquichoury was domiciled in Bordeaux, rue d'Arès, until he was almost forty years old. Was his father, who is identified as a painter on the civil status documents, an artist or did he work in construction? From 1890 to 1908, he exhibited at the Amis des Arts de Bordeaux and would not resume his place until 1933 when he was mentioned as a resident of Caudéran. He was then almost sixty years old and it was from this period that his production seemed to take on importance. The few known works are indeed dated between 1930 and 1940. His works from this period are mainly from Périgord, without us being able to situate them all perfectly since the titles are given to us by small place names. Nevertheless, the villages of Trémolat, Saint-Geniès or Condat regularly come up. The painter's other works are produced around Bordeaux, sometimes towards the coast and in the moorland areas. The beautiful palette that the artist uses remains in the traditional vein of Cabié, to which he brings sometimes brighter and more colorful lights. His touch, quite thick, is closer to the Périgord painter Emile Chaumont.

It is rare to come across works representing the country of Montignac and Terrasson. This panel representing the Coly in Condat is quite typical of the landscapes that can still be seen there today. A narrow valley, a few houses on the edge of the watercourse and a beautiful warm light embracing the hills dotted with sparse vegetation. Produced in September 1935, this work is one of the testimonies that Ausquichoury brings back from the maternal territory, since the Rives family is originally from Beaumont in Périgord. The painter's parents married there before moving to Bordeaux.