Large Watercolor Still Life Tony Agostini (1916-1990)

Large watercolor signed lower right by Tony Agostini (1916-1990) depicting a still life with fruit and a bouquet of flowers. Inscribed on the back of the frame. Dimensions: 65 x 50 cm. Tony Agostini was a French painter born in Bastia in 1916 and died in Antony in 1990. A self-taught artist, he discovered his artistic vocation after initial training in administration. Arriving in Paris for a career in the office, he settled in Montmartre where, from 1944 onwards, he associated with emblematic figures of the artistic and literary scene: Francis Carco, Marcel Aymé, and especially the painter Gen Paul, his neighbor on Avenue Junot. It was in this bohemian context that he began painting in 1946. He participated in the Montmartre brass band La Chignolle with other artists such as Frank-Will, Pere Créixams, and Jean d'Esparbès, and quickly adopted an urban theme centered on crowds and Parisian nightlife. In the 1950s, he broadened his pictorial scope to include landscapes, studio interiors, and still lifes, the latter becoming a central theme, particularly in his lithographic work. A passionate sportsman (horse riding, cycling, rugby), he presented a monumental work, Rugby – The Tackle, at the Salon des Peintres Témoins de leur Temps (Salon of Painters Witnessing their Time) in 1957. That same year, he left Montmartre to settle in Antony, where he lived until his death in 1990. Agostini's work is represented in numerous private collections, and his distinctive style makes him a unique witness to postwar French art. Although self-taught, Tony Agostini acknowledges the influence of Rembrandt and Paul Cézanne, whom he admired from a young age. This dual heritage lends his work a character that is both expressive and rigorous: bursts of vibrant color, inherited from Gen Paul, and a solid structure, inherited from Cézanne. Over the years, his style evolved, sometimes incorporating expressive distortions akin to Cubism. His subjects are treated with a lively, energetic touch, conveying movement, whether street scenes, rugby matches, or the intricate forms in his still lifes. His palette, dark and contrasting in his early Montmartre period, brightened through his contact with nature and the tranquility of Antony. In his still lifes, often lithographs, one finds a precision in composition, a taste for textures, and a certain poetry of the everyday.