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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION

1877- 1968
CARMEN VINCENTE DANSANT

measurements
100.5 by 81cm.

alternate measurements
39 1/2 by 31 7/8 in.

Painted circa 1921.

signed Van Dongen (lower right); indistintcly inscribed Carmen Vincente on the stretcher

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Adams Gallery, London (1960)
Vincent Arroyo, London
Sale: Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 18th November 1989, lot 82
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

EXHIBITED

Tucson, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Cornelius Theodorus Marie van Dongen: First American Retrospective, 1971, no. 84

LITERATURE

Raymond Escholier, La Peinture française du XXe siècle, Paris, 1937, illustrated p. 56 (titled La Danseuse Carmen Vincente)

NOTE

A wonderful example of Van Dongen's art of the 1920s, a period that came to be known as les années folles, Carmen Vicente dansant depicts a performer in all her elegance on a colourful and stylised stage. The artist loved the modern and the exotic in life as well as in art; the brilliant colours, mannerist, elongated forms and the rhythmic composition of the present work evoke the sensual languor of dance and the exuberance of night life in Paris. In 1913 Van Dongen explained some of his fascination in painting actresses, singers and harlots: 'I know everyone of those women's histories, which are deeply tragic. They have experienced life in all its facets [...] I cannot help painting these women in garish colours; perhaps I do so in order to express the intensity of their lives?' (quoted in Kees van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1989, p. 7).

Known as the principal portraitist among the Fauve artists, Van Dongen executed portraits inspired by his visits to the cabarets and cafés where dancers performed in exotic costumes, as well as those of members of society. In 1917, the artist began a relationship with Léa Jacob, also known as Jasmy, who helped launch his career among the Parisian fashion circles. Writing about this period of Van Dongen's career, Denys Sutton commented: 'During the 1920s, Van Dongen became one of the most talked of figures in the French art world and it is only necessary to run through the volume of press cuttings belonging to [his daughter] to be aware of the fact that his name was news. He was a frequent visitor to Deauville, where the smart world gathered, and to the cabarets and restaurants of Paris. What appealed to him about the années folles were their movement and gaiety. He once said: 'I passionately love the life of my time so animated, so feverish! Ah! Life is even more beautiful than painting" (D. Sutton in Cornelius Theodorous Marie Van Dongen (exhibition catalogue), Tuscon, 1971, p. 46.)