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Text from "ART20,
The Thames and Hudson Multimedia Dictionary of Modern Art"
"Raoul Dufy - French painter. He and Friesz were schoolfriends and
together studied the works of Boudin in the museum in Le Havre. In 1900,
Dufy received a local grant enabling him to attend the École des
Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he joined Bonnat's studio, and in 1902 he was
introduced to Berthe Weill, who showed his work in her gallery. Matisse's
Luxe, Calme et Volupté, which Dufy saw at the Salon des Indépendants
in 1905, was a revelation to the young artist and directed his interest
towards Fauvism. With Friesz at Falaise, Marquet at Sainte-Adresse, and
Braque at l'Estaque, he expressed his fondness for pure colour and the
charm of beach scenes. It was only after the war that he found his own
personal style, producing rapid but precise drawings of frequently plunging
perspectives, to which clear colours are applied with a kind of casual
freedom. His favourite subjects are regattas, casinos and palm trees,
race courses and orchestras, but his representations of the southern towns
of Avila and Caltagirone are imbued with equal charm. Alongside his career
as a painter, he also worked as an illustrator (Apollinaire's Bestiaire),
fabric designer (for Paul Poiret) and decorator (the Fée Électricité
for the Palais de la Lumière at the Exposition Universelle in 1937).
The 'granddaddy of modern chic', as he was called in Time during his visit
to the United States in 1950-51, left one of the most joyful œuvres
of his era."
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