Post Impressionist Seated Man

Hi, I would like your help again (Pre-Raphaelite last time), I have had this picture for about five years, bought from my local auction house with no provenance. It measures about 3 feet in height, I am uploading plenty of images for you to peruse, thankyou.

 

More images

 

It does have a hint of pointillism . At first glance I was "meh" but the more i look the more i like. I saw it said "Dufy" on the tag but it doesnt look like his style,but who knows,maybe he experimented. Its a great piece.

 

I think the "Dufy" was the owner and "Foyer" was where it was hanging in his home.

 

I agree it's not either of the Dufy's, I don't think the frame is original to my picture, part of it has been butchered to accommodate my picture. Having said that, I absolutely love the frame!! Here in England, Bournemouth, there are a lot of hotels and the term 'Foyer' would be used in them and other commercial buildings but not peoples average homes. I have seen Dufy pictures in this kind of period frame but why you would take one out of its original frame I can't understand. This frame is similar style with Dufy in it.

 

Looking at Raoul Dufy, I noticed that many of his paintings were 39" x 24", this may be a common canvas size?. However, I also noticed that they were normally 'Landscape' not 'Portrait'. I then looked at my frame and noticed two holes exactly where you would expect and then the Dufy label makes more sense because it is at the top not on the side, call me 'Miss Marple' but why hadn't I noticed that before!!!

 

It seems that the painting has been re-stretched on new canvas frame, it looks too contemporary. The frame was fitted with extra shims to adjust to the size of the canvas frame, the question comes to mind : was the frame taken from another painting or the restorer had to adjust after re-stretching onto the new frame? I don't see any signs of oil painting aging, but this may be only seen with a naked eye. The figure is not quite proportional, unless the sitter was very short. The signature is very unclear, I can only read 83, perhaps indicating a year.

 

Thanks for your comments, I don't know enough about how old the paint is and I have never seen any signature myself, where do you see the 83?

 

Agree with every point you've made. I doubt this is much older than the 1980s also, although I'm not ruling age out. I also think it's been remounted onto newer stretcher bars (certainly newer than the frame). The "canvas" that I can see around the edges seems too thin to have actually been painted directly on to, as it would sag and I see no evidence of that from the front. The masonite seems to be holding it tight, so not sure if it's not just painted onto too thin canvas and then glued to the masonite. I would not take this out of the frame to find out. The off proportions of the foreshortening are uncomfortable, his wrists to his elbows are way too short for an average man. I don't know what "style" to peg this, it's closest to pointillism, but a mishmosh of styles. I like the frame, but not the fact that it was modified horribly in the back.

 

I like it although I find it oddly and weirdly proportioned. I personally see neither Post Impressionism nor Pointillism. I’d ism it as Figurative Expressionism.

 

It is not masonite, I think it has been re-lined onto the canvas you see on the back. If you look at the picture showing the edge you will see where the old canvas is coming away from the new.

 

Is there a sketch of something on the back? (See picture 2)

 

No, the picture is already out of the frame, it is a picture on the wall behind, sorry

 

In the right hand side in black, it looks like 83.

 

Sorry, picture 2, I can't see anything but will have another look

 

Bakersgma-There isn't anything on the canvas that I can see. Jenia- I'm afraid I can't see the 83 but I'm not doubting it, Thanks both.

 

How did the auction house describe it?

Debora

 

Hi Debora, Oil on canvas, a seated portrait of a gentleman

 

I thought that too ! It does look like buildings .

 

Pity the other sticker is missing. It appears to have part of a European telephone number.

Debora