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Lot Essay
Marquet painted the port in Algiers numerous times in the early 1920s, and the early 30s, returning to the subject with vigour throughout the War years of 1939-1945, having acquired a residence there. Algiers was an exotic and cosmopolitan city and entranced Marquet with its uniquely varied palette between the colourful markets and gardens; the creamy whites of the buildings drenched in hot sun; and the burnt reds, soft purples and bright blues of the landscape and sea, bathed in Mediterranean light.
Writing in 1913, Marcel Sembat, a member of the French parliament and early supporter of Picasso in his Cubist experiments, commented: 'No artist has the same relationship with light as Marquet. It is as if he owned it. He possesses the secret of a pure and intense light which fills all the sky with its uniform and colourless glow... Luminous as daylight itself and so transparent that a painting by Marquet gives the impression of a large window being opened onto the outside' (quoted in exh. cat., Marquet, New York, 1985, p. 6).
The port was a popular motif for the artist who had grown up in Bordeaux, a famous port city. He was an avid traveller and the port represented the possibility of movement, the arrival and departure of peoples and cargo and ever-present buzz at the centre of the city’s cultural heart and economy. With strong focus on the industrial geometry, Marquet found his subject in both the idea of the port and its aesthetic, exploring its unique visual structure repeatedly from varying angles and at different times of day. His port pictures, across Europe and North Africa—through Le Havre, Marseilles, Algiers, Naples, Rotterdam and Tunis—show not only his sense of adventure but his virtuosity in articulating the subtle variances and commonalities between each of these international centres of commerce.
Writing in 1913, Marcel Sembat, a member of the French parliament and early supporter of Picasso in his Cubist experiments, commented: 'No artist has the same relationship with light as Marquet. It is as if he owned it. He possesses the secret of a pure and intense light which fills all the sky with its uniform and colourless glow... Luminous as daylight itself and so transparent that a painting by Marquet gives the impression of a large window being opened onto the outside' (quoted in exh. cat., Marquet, New York, 1985, p. 6).
The port was a popular motif for the artist who had grown up in Bordeaux, a famous port city. He was an avid traveller and the port represented the possibility of movement, the arrival and departure of peoples and cargo and ever-present buzz at the centre of the city’s cultural heart and economy. With strong focus on the industrial geometry, Marquet found his subject in both the idea of the port and its aesthetic, exploring its unique visual structure repeatedly from varying angles and at different times of day. His port pictures, across Europe and North Africa—through Le Havre, Marseilles, Algiers, Naples, Rotterdam and Tunis—show not only his sense of adventure but his virtuosity in articulating the subtle variances and commonalities between each of these international centres of commerce.