Figure

Artist Kees van Dongen (French, born Netherlands, 1877 - 1968)

Date1905

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 25 5/8 x 21 1/4 inches (65.09 x 53.98 cm)
Framed: 32 13/16 x 28 9/16 x 3 3/8 inches (83.34 x 72.55 x 8.57 cm)

Credit LineGift of Arthur Wiesenberger

Object number45-41

Signedl.r. (in dark red paint): "Van Dongen"

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Modern Art

Terms

DescriptionFemale figure wearing white slip and black stockings occupies center third of canvas touching top to bottom. Bright red background covers upper two-thirds behind figure, lower third has band of painted oriental rug "design" with blue, orange, brown, yellow, and green. Lower left corner has a larger area of brick-colored background (part of rug design).Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Wearing a short, white slip and black stockings, the woman in this painting stares directly at the viewer. Her red hair and lips, the red outline of her arms, and the red wall behind her lend further intensity to the scene. Kees van Dongen, Henri Matisse, and others exhibited their work at the Paris Autumn Salon in 1905. An art critic—shocked by the bold colors and textures of their paintings—called them "Les Fauves" (the wild beasts). Today, this art movement is known as Fauvism.

Provenance

With Galerie Neue Kunst, Hans Goltz, Munich, by 1928 [1];

Maurice J. (1880-1948) and Martha Glazer (1880-1968) Speiser, Philadelphia, PA, by January 13, 1934-January 27, 1944;

Purchased at their sale, Paintings by Modern Artists, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice J. Speiser, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, January 27, 1944, lot 114, by Arthur Wiesenberger (1896-1970), New York, 1944-1945 [2];

His gift, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1945.

NOTES:

[1] A Galerie Neue Kunst label on the back of the painting includes the address “Briennerstrasse 8.” Galerie Neue Kunst moved away from this location in 1928.

[2] According to Christina Eberli, Sotheby’s, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Provenance Specialist, October 20, 2016, NAMA curatorial files.

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