Oil on canvas
60 x 50 cm.
Signed: lower right ‘Ch. Camoin’
Charles Camoin was born in ‘a pot of colour’ states Daniele Giraudy in her book Camoin Sa Vie Son Oeuvre. His father had a paint- and decorationshop in Marseille. After his father died when he was six, Camoin and his brother and two sisters grew up with their mother in Paris. At the Ecole des Beaux Arts, he became friends with Henri Matisse and Albert Marquet. In the year 1902 Camoin made acquaintance with Paul Cezanne, whose influence remained important during the whole of his career. In 1905 his work was to be seen in the historic Cage aux Fauves of the Salon d’Automne where all important modernists of the day such as Matisse, Derain, De Vlaminck and Van Dongen were represented. Later on in his career, Camoin abandons the broad brushstrokes and strong colours of fauvism in favour of a more gentle painting in a tempered palette. Camoin’s work is represented in major public collections all over the world such as the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Musee National d’Art Moderne in Paris.
