Auguste Chabaud (1882-1955) The White Road In The Alpilles

The restrained use of color and the spontaneity of the brushstrokes give this painting by the Provençal expressionist master Auguste Chabaud a sense of movement.
A tireless explorer of his native Alpilles, the artist once again demonstrated his audacity and modernism in executing this work, created as usual in oil on cardboard, true to his technique of first-drawn sketches with confident and minimalist lines.
The preparatory charcoal sketch visible beneath the diluted paint layer, along with the reserves in the cardboard support, lend this work, dating from around 1920, a modern and daring quality compatible with contemporary interior design.
The work is presented in a modern American-style frame measuring 34.5 cm by 45 cm, while the cardboard panel itself measures 26.5 cm by 36.5 cm.
Signed in the lower right corner, the reverse bears an old exhibition label from the Galerie Jouvène in Marseille, as well as the family inventory number 00239.

Auguste Chabaud entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Avignon in 1896, where he studied under Pierre Grivolas.
In 1899, he went to Paris to continue his studies at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts, in the studio of Fernand Cormon (1845-1924).
There he met Henri Matisse and André Derain.
His parents' vineyard suffered during the 1900 crisis, forcing Auguste Chabaud to return to the South of France.
In 1901, he had to leave Paris to earn a living, signing on as a pilot on a ship and discovering the West African coast.
That same year, his father died; he and his brother inherited the vineyard and the land, which only his brother managed.
During this period, Chabaud worked extensively on butcher's paper.
From 1903 to 1906, he served in the military in Tunisia, returning with sketchbooks filled with local scenes, including numerous drawings of soldiers, indigenous people, and bar scenes populated by girls and sailors.
Back in Paris, Chabaud made his debut in 1907 at the Salon des Indépendants, exhibiting alongside the Fauves.
He was about to 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 streets and squares, both bustling and deserted, scenes of nightlife, and brothels.
In 1911, he began his Cubist period, working on large canvases and sculpting.
Numerous exhibitions followed, including one in New York in 1913 where he exhibited alongside Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Pablo Picasso, and later in Chicago and Boston.
His Fauvist paintings depict Parisian nightlife: cabarets, café-theaters, and prostitutes, rendered in vibrant colors (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 mountains.
From 1920 onwards, he began his Blue Period (using pure Prussian blue) in which Provence, its people, and its customs were highlighted.
The South, which he had never ceased to paint, even during his time in Paris, now occupied his entire focus.
Like Paul Cézanne with Mont Sainte-Victoire, Auguste Chabaud immortalized "la montagnette" (the little mountain), painting rural scenes of peasants traversing the hills and paths of the Alpilles.
He remained there until the end of his life, living in seclusion 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 Musée Cantini, in Paris at the Musée National d'Art Moderne and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de 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*, and *Je me suis pris pour Démosthène*.
Works in public collections:
France: Toulon, Museum of Art: *Villeneuve-lès-Avignon*, oil on cardboard, 53 × 76 cm.
Troyes, Museum of Modern Art: *La Gare*, 1907, oil on canvas, 73 × 100 cm.
Centre Pompidou, Centre Pompidou, Centre Beaubourg, Paris;
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg;
Vatican Museums, Rome;
Switzerland: Geneva, Petit Palais Museum.