Jean Dufy was born in the port city of Le Havre in France in 1888. At the Le Havre Exposition in 1906 Dufy saw for the first times the works of Pierre Matisse, Andre Derain, Albert Marquet and Pablo Picasso. Even though he was drafted in 1914, he continued to draw and to paint the flowers, horses, and landscapes that he saw in Val-d’Ajol, in the Vosges region of France where he recuperated after the war. In 1916 Dufy began to paint porcelain for Théodore Haviland in Limoges. In 1920 Dufy returned to Paris to live in Monmartre where one of his neighbors was Georges Braque. It was here that Dufy began to work seriously with colorful patchwork squares and bold areas of light. For the first time the public was able to view Dufy’s work at the Salon D’Automne and Galerie Bing in Paris as well as at the Perls Galleries and Balzac Galleries in New York. Dufy often returned his birthplace in Le Havre where he painted monumental works that showcased his mastery of harmonizing colors. He and his wife also spent time in the regions of Limousin and Touraine where he often painted their forests and valleys. From 1950 until 1960 he traveled extensively throughout Europe and North Africa, but he always returned to Paris to paint her streets, her horse drawn carriages, the Eiffel Tower, her sky, the Seine and her gates in harmonious tones of blue. Throughout his lifetime Dufy had numerous exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic.
SOLD - Une Vue de Paris, watercolor, 18 3/8 x 12 1/4 inches