Le Gardelliere

Label TextBorn in 1876, the 82 year span of Valminck's life can be characterized by strong if not often violent personal involvement in all that he did. As a young man he engaged in and was eminently successful at bicycle racing, a rugged sport as practiced by the French. He was early identified with the fauve and was referrred to by Dirian as the "wildest of the beasts." The fauve trade-mark of pure and often clashing color was applied by Vlaminck with an especially vigorous brush which was to become even more bold in his later work, producing canvases with a surging emotional appeal. With only a passing nod to cubism, Vlaminck retired to Normandy in 1924 where the style of his later years matured and he became the "poet of stormy skies" with a palette of cold and muted tones. All that remains of the pure primary color of the fauves is punctuation. "La Gardelliere" is from this later period, at once chilly in the winter atmosphere and warm in the cluster of houses which, for Vlaminck, had expressive personalities of their own. Soiurce: Bulletin February 1961.
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, Feb. 1961, ill.

ART BULLETIN, Feb. 1961, ill.

DES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER, Feb. 29, 1961, ill.

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.209 & 210

DimensionsOverall: 21 × 26 in. (53.3 × 66 cm)

Accession Number 1959.41

Classificationspainting

CopyrightARS

SignedVlaminck (l,r oil paint)

ProvenanceArtist, France; (Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles); Florence Cowles Kruidenier [acquired by 1959]; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 1959]