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Artist or Maker: Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)

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Description: Le champ de courses à Epsom
signed and inscribed 'Raoul Dufy Epsom' (lower centre)
gouache, watercolour, brush and ink and pencil on paper
19 3/4 x 26 in. (50.3 x 66 cm.)
Executed in the 1930s

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Exhibited: Paris, Hôtel George V, 1972.

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Published: F. Guillon-Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, catalogue raisonné des aquarelles, gouaches et pastels, vol. I, Paris, 1981, no. 999 (illustrated p. 364).

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Notes: SELECTED WORKS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE ROBERT SANGSTER

This work is sold with a photo-certificate from Fanny Guillon-Lafaille.
Whilst in Le Derby à Epsom (lot 431) Dufy focussed on the actual running ot the race, in the present gouache he has depicted the preparation to the competition. The grandstand is captured from the left, as the artist gazes on the elegant group of spectators strolling leisurely on the pelouse, waiting for the race to begin. Horses and jockeys mix with the gentlemen, who sport less formal attires than the spectators attending the Derby. The glamour and relaxed elegance of the moment are conveyed with Dufy's trademark sharp touch. His observant eye lingers on the ladies' fashionable dresses and hats, the men's bowler-hats and ties, the jockey's nervous conversations before the race, and the couples gathered in the background. In Le champ de courses à Epsom, Dufy's stylistic characteristics find a particularly successful expression. Some figures are singled out by colourful lines against darker spots of green, applied with skilled sprezzatura on the bright foreground.

The provenance of this gouache is particularly prestigious: together with Le Derby à Epsom (lot 431) and Le champ de courses de Deauville, le meeting aérien (lot 438), it comes from the collection of the late Robert Sangster (see note to lot 431).

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.