"the Little Red Sails" By Frédéric Menguy (1927 - 2007)

Frédéric Menguy (1927–2007) was a painter, watercolorist, illustrator, poster artist, and lithographer. His father was an electrician, and Menguy studied in Sarcelles before attending the Goussainville commercial college. Passionate about painting, he trained in evening classes at the City of Paris workshops, while also working from 1943 as an accounting clerk (first for an insurance company, then as a stockbroker). In the early 1950s, he enrolled at the École Normale des Professeurs de Dessin d'Art in Paris and began teaching drawing in 1953. He taught until 1971, at which point he felt confident enough to dedicate himself entirely to painting and live from his art. Menguy's early works are characterized by a sense of misery and depictions of working-class life. But the artist's temperament led him to express himself through more joyful subjects, and he began to develop a palette of dreamlike colors and subjects drawn from dreams: zebra-horses, women, and landscapes in improbable colors, ranging from flamboyant oranges to soft blues. Little by little, he moved towards abstraction, without ever abandoning subject matter. For a time, he produced canvases with geometric planes quite similar to Nicolas de Staël's later work. But Menguy could not do without figuration and returned to his favorite subjects: the circus, fantastical animals, and dreamlike landscapes. He did not paint what he saw, but rather how he would like everyone to perceive reality: colorful, joyful, and full of energy. Menguy exhibited at the Emmanuel David Gallery from 1968 to 1979 and then joined the Drouant Gallery (1982, 1985, 1997, 2000). He participated in the Salon d'Automne, the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l'Eau, and the Salon des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps. His works are included in the collections of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Oil on canvas, signed lower left, titled and countersigned on the reverse. Dimensions: 46 x 55 cm. With contemporary American-style frame: 49 x 58 cm.