Although Albert Marquet (1875-1947) is not one of my favorite painters, he has always been a question mark in my mind. Considered to be one of the greatest painters of 20th century. From the dates you can see that his contemporaries are Picasso, Matisse, the Fauves - need I go on? Matisse was one of his closest friends and yet I have never seen any mention of an encounter with Picasso! Especially as Khanweiler who discovered and launched cubism also collected a few of Marque’s paintings. I had forgotten that. I should really like his paintings too as they are considered to be without too much detail and that he has a keen sense of framing. I went along with Pierre and thanks to him, l suddenly saw Marquet in quite a different light. There is a real elegance of composition, something very delicate about his colors and a lot of atmosphere in his paintings.
His early drawings too in pencil, pastel or ink where the streets of Paris, his hunting ground. Simple and sensitive, these are paintings in their own right.
 |
| Mama |
 |
| Mama - Le Havre |
 |
| View of Rouen : 1927 |
There a quite a few of his paintings that remind me of Georges Rouault but not too many of the Fauvism period.
 |
| The Beach at Fecamp 1906 |
 |
| Notre Dame 1904 |
 |
| 14th July, 1906 |
What is spectacular and Pierre pointed this out to me, is his painting of water. Where ever he went, the port was transformed into a modern, active landscape. He traveled extensively from Marseille to Stockholm, Le Havre to Hamburg, he lived in Algiers - a city of white - Pierre who was born in Algeria, recognized his port paintings at once. Yet there is not too much that distinguishes Algiers from Marseille, not as far as I could see anyway.
Obviously Marquet was very much at ease with water. There are many scenes of gently lapping water or waves in a storm matched with translucent or cloudy skies. Surely these must have been the scenes he enjoyed painting the most.
His painted cityscapes of Paris from the Quai des Grands-Augustins and Quai Sanit-Michel (just down the road from me) dominated his painting while he lived in Paris. That was from 1902-1947. I didn’t like all of them. Far from it but those which were « less identifiable » that the countless views we see of Paris at that period, were very beautiful. Misty or cloudy weather that shrouded Notre Dame in grey, the details were blurred (a little like Monet) leaving behind a ghostly outline.
 |
| Ajouter une légende |
 |
| River scene |
 |
| Algiers 1920 |
 |
| City under snow |
 |
| Bay of Naples, 1909 |
 |
| Banks of the river, 1913 |
 |
| Bay of Naples, 1908 |
 |
| FONTARABIE GREY WEATHER 1926 |
 |
| Quai de grands Augustins 1906 |
Perhaps there is one painting that I will never forget as it is so different from any other artist l have followed at that period. It just stood out from everything else. « The Island of Swans » in Herblay, painted in 1919. It is in the Beaubourg archives but can’t have shown too often when l was there. It’s unforgettable. See for yourself…..
 |
| Swan Lake 1919 |
Commentaires