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Lot Essay
Dufy devoted approximately ten canvases to the theme of the Manoir du Vallon, a house in his native region of Normandy owned by Etienne-Jean Bignou, the artist's friend and his Paris dealer. Dufy visited Bignou's home from 1934-1937, during which time he painted the house from various angles, and scenes showing himself and his friend set in or around the house (Laffaille, no. 768).
Like most of his paintings of the Manoir du Vallon, this version displays the house as seen from a three-quarter angle. The picturesque design of the Tudor-style house can be seen best from this viewpoint. The present painting stands out from the others in this series because of its striking horizontal format. This layout allowed the artist to offer a sweeping view of the surrounding orchard in full bloom. Dufy favored the idyllic panorama of the Normandy landscape because it evoked nature's abundance and beauty in all its essence.
In his maturity, Dufy was preoccupied with the optical effects that could be achieved through his brushwork and use of color. In 1926, Dufy was in Honfleur and witnessed a little girl in a red dress running along a jetty. He noticed then that color remained on the retina longer than form. He considered that color and form could exist independently of each other in his paintings. He applied this idea at first to a painting of that very jetty, La Jetée à Honfleur, 1928 (Laffaille, no. 637, Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris), and to various works thereafter. In the present work, one can detect sectional zones of color that underlie the areas of pictorial detail in the composition, particularly in the details of the trees on the left, that seem to be entirely separate from the forms drawn over them. The cursive brushwork in turn, by optical effect, seems to intensify the color that lies beneath it.
Like most of his paintings of the Manoir du Vallon, this version displays the house as seen from a three-quarter angle. The picturesque design of the Tudor-style house can be seen best from this viewpoint. The present painting stands out from the others in this series because of its striking horizontal format. This layout allowed the artist to offer a sweeping view of the surrounding orchard in full bloom. Dufy favored the idyllic panorama of the Normandy landscape because it evoked nature's abundance and beauty in all its essence.
In his maturity, Dufy was preoccupied with the optical effects that could be achieved through his brushwork and use of color. In 1926, Dufy was in Honfleur and witnessed a little girl in a red dress running along a jetty. He noticed then that color remained on the retina longer than form. He considered that color and form could exist independently of each other in his paintings. He applied this idea at first to a painting of that very jetty, La Jetée à Honfleur, 1928 (Laffaille, no. 637, Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris), and to various works thereafter. In the present work, one can detect sectional zones of color that underlie the areas of pictorial detail in the composition, particularly in the details of the trees on the left, that seem to be entirely separate from the forms drawn over them. The cursive brushwork in turn, by optical effect, seems to intensify the color that lies beneath it.