Auguste Chabaud (1882-1955) The White Jug On The Dining Room Table

With the roundness of its shape echoing the chandelier just above, and its simple, plain white color contrasting in this busy, colorful environment, we enter the painter's intimacy.
His world, that of the dining room with its rustic, Provençal decor, and all the charm of this interior scene of the Mas de Martin de Graveson, the home of this great artist, leader of the Expressionist and Fauvist School of the early 20th century, Auguste Chabaud.
The work, in very good condition, is done in oil on canvas and is presented in a Louis XIV style frame measuring 55 cm by 68 cm and 33 cm by 46 cm for the canvas alone.
The work is signed lower right, countersigned on the back, it bears a label in the name of the former owner "the Josef Muller collection" in Solothurn in Switzerland, as well as an inventory number and the Label of participation in an Exhibition devoted to "Still Lifes and Interiors" from June to October 2001 at the Auguste Chabaud Regional Museum in Graveson.
A rare and high quality work.

Auguste Chabaud entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Avignon in 1896, where he studied under Pierre Grivolas. Then in 1899, he left for Paris to continue his studies at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts, in the studio of Fernand Cormon (1845-1924). He met Henri Matisse and André Derain. His parents' wine estate suffered the crisis of 1900, forcing Auguste Chabaud to return to the South of France. In 1901, Auguste Chabaud had to leave Paris to earn a living. He embarked as a pilot (or pilot) on a ship and discovered the West African coast. The same year, his father died; he and his brother inherited the vineyard and land, which his brother alone would manage. During this period, Chabaud worked extensively on butcher's paper. From 1903 to 1906, he did his military service in Tunisia, from where he returned with sketchbooks filled with local images, including numerous drawings of soldiers, natives, and bar scenes populated by girls and sailors. Back in Paris, Chabaud made his debut in 1907 at the Salon des Indépendants, exhibiting among the Fauves. He would discover a new life, that of Parisian nightlife and cabarets. Collectors began to take an interest in his work. In Montmartre, where he had his studio, he painted the lively or deserted streets and squares, scenes of nightlife, and brothels. In 1911, he began his Cubist period, working in large formats and sculpting. Numerous exhibitions followed, including the one in New York in 1913, where he exhibited alongside Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Pablo Picasso, then in Chicago and Boston. His paintings from the Fauvist period depict Parisian nightlife: cabarets, café-theaters, prostitutes, in bright shades (yellow, red) contrasting with the colors of the night (navy blue, black). Upon his return from the First World War in 1919, Auguste Chabaud settled permanently in Graveson, in the Alpilles. From 1920, he began his blue period (he used Prussian blue in its pure state) in which Provence, its characters and customs were highlighted. The South, which he never stopped painting, even in his Parisian period, would henceforth occupy him exclusively. As Paul Cézanne had done with the Sainte-Victoire mountain, Auguste Chabaud immortalized "la montagnette", painting countryside scenes, peasants walking the hills and paths of the Alpilles. He remained there until the end of his life, living as a recluse in his house with his wife and seven children. Nicknamed the "hermit of Graveson", he died in 1955.
Some of his works can be seen in
Marseille at the Cantini Museum,
in Paris at the National Museum of Modern Art,
the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, and in Geneva at the Petit Palais.
In 1992, the PACA regional council opened a museum in his honor in Graveson.
Painters regularly pay tribute to him, such as Claude Viallat in 2003.
Auguste Chabaud wrote poems and books such as: L'Estocade de vérité, Le Tambour Gautier, Je me suis pris pour Démosthène.

Works in public collections
France Toulon, art museum: Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, oil on cardboard, 53 × 76 cm.
Troyes, museum of modern art: La Gare, 1907, oil on canvas, 73 × 100 cm.
Centre National Pompidou Beaubourg Museum Paris
Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg " two works purchased by the Morosov brothers in 1910"
Vatican Museum Rome "five works"
Switzerland Geneva, Petit Palais Museum.