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Lot Essay
Christine Lenoir and Maria de la Ville Fromoit have confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Enfants dans une prairie was painted around 1906-07, at an important juncture in the career of Henri Lebasque. The artist had already been a presence in the Parisian art world for some time, having exhibited repeatedly. He was a friend of the Neo-Impressionists and the Nabis alike, and was rumoured to have had his first art lesson from no less a figure than Camille Pissarro. He was already held in high regard for his lyrical images of family life or children playing, as is the case in Enfants dans une prairie. However, from 1906 onwards, these subjects gained a new lustre through his exposure to the South of France. Until that point, Lebasque had seldom travelled, aside from brief trips to London, Madrid and Venice. When he went to Saint-Tropez in 1906, by contrast, this marked the beginning of a love affair which would continue for much of the rest of his life. Indeed, in 1924, he moved to Le Cannet, where his friend Pierre Bonnard would buy a house two years later.
Lebasque had initially travelled to the South to stay with Henri Manguin, who was working in close contact with Henri Matisse at the time. Looking at Enfants dans une prairie, it is clear that Lebasque shared some of the ideas that they were exploring during that period, at the high point of Fauvism. In this picture, the near-Pointillist manner that had characterised some of his earlier works has given way to a freer use of paint and colour that is more expressive and expressionistic, recalling the brushwork of Vincent van Gogh more than his old mentor Pissarro. Lebasque has given a flicking sense of life through the vitality of his brushwork to this scene of children playing and relaxing in a meadow. The colours of the olive trees and other foligage have been rendered through use of purple and red as well as green, while the dappled ground has been rendered using a rich tapestry of juxtaposed colours that shows a freedom that surpasses even the later works of his friend Paul Signac.
Enfants dans une prairie was painted around 1906-07, at an important juncture in the career of Henri Lebasque. The artist had already been a presence in the Parisian art world for some time, having exhibited repeatedly. He was a friend of the Neo-Impressionists and the Nabis alike, and was rumoured to have had his first art lesson from no less a figure than Camille Pissarro. He was already held in high regard for his lyrical images of family life or children playing, as is the case in Enfants dans une prairie. However, from 1906 onwards, these subjects gained a new lustre through his exposure to the South of France. Until that point, Lebasque had seldom travelled, aside from brief trips to London, Madrid and Venice. When he went to Saint-Tropez in 1906, by contrast, this marked the beginning of a love affair which would continue for much of the rest of his life. Indeed, in 1924, he moved to Le Cannet, where his friend Pierre Bonnard would buy a house two years later.
Lebasque had initially travelled to the South to stay with Henri Manguin, who was working in close contact with Henri Matisse at the time. Looking at Enfants dans une prairie, it is clear that Lebasque shared some of the ideas that they were exploring during that period, at the high point of Fauvism. In this picture, the near-Pointillist manner that had characterised some of his earlier works has given way to a freer use of paint and colour that is more expressive and expressionistic, recalling the brushwork of Vincent van Gogh more than his old mentor Pissarro. Lebasque has given a flicking sense of life through the vitality of his brushwork to this scene of children playing and relaxing in a meadow. The colours of the olive trees and other foligage have been rendered through use of purple and red as well as green, while the dappled ground has been rendered using a rich tapestry of juxtaposed colours that shows a freedom that surpasses even the later works of his friend Paul Signac.