The North African "Le Planteur" -- Dufresne's fusion of Cubist structure and Fauvist expressionism

CHARLES DUFRESNE (French, 1876-1938). Le Planteur, circa 1919, Limited edition etching and drypoint numbered 12 of an edition of 35. Pencil numbered, titled, and artist signed at base. Blind stamp: E. Sagot Editeur, Paris. The piece reflects Dufresne's unique fusion of Cubist structure and Fauvist expressionism, a style he refined following his influential stay in North Africa. The composition centers on a towering European planter in colonial attire, flanked by Indigenous figures and a large sailing ship in the background, which serves as a poignant symbol of maritime trade and the colonial era. Dufresne's work from this period often reimagined exotic and lyrical themes through a modernist lens, and examples of this specific print are preserved in major institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum. Unframed. Not mounted or laid down. -

  • Provenance: ARTIST PROFILE: Georges-Charles Dufresne (November 23, 1876 – August 8, 1938) was a versatile French painter, engraver, sculptor, and decorator born in Millemont to a seafaring family. Apprenticed in his youth to a commercial engraver, he went on to study at the École des Beaux-Arts under Ponscarme, an engraver and medallist, and worked as assistant to the medallist Alexandre Charpentier. Increasingly drawn to painting, he began creating pastels and made his exhibition debut at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1903. In 1910, he was awarded the Prix de l'Afrique du Nord and spent the following two years in Algeria, where contact with an exotic civilization deepened his sense of color and awakened an interest in romantic African subjects reminiscent of Delacroix. During World War I he served in the French army, and after being gassed, he worked in Dunoyer de Segonzac's camouflage unit. Following the war, he painted Cubist-inflected scenes and mythological subjects, designed sets for the ballet of the Opéra de Paris in 1921, and was one of the founders of the Salon des Tuileries in 1923. His most characteristic works are imaginative scenes drawing on his exotic travels, though his output also included religious paintings and portraits. He became a respected teacher at the Académie Scandinave, and his later works included monumental murals for the Palais de Chaillot and the Faculté de Pharmacie in Paris, the latter completed just before his death in 1938.
  • Dimensions: Image: 9.25 x 7 inches; sheet: 12.5 x 9.25 inches

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