Auguste Chabaud (1882-1955) The Grapevine Near The Porch

An intensely blue sky immediately draws the viewer's eye, initially inviting them to step away from a village street where houses are merely suggested, rendered in ochre and gray tones using a light, textured medium that reveals the underlying cardboard support.
In the center, illuminated by a ray of sunlight, a white facade adorned with a green vine, highlighted by a porch arch, then attracts attention and draws the viewer back into the intimacy and warmth of a Provençal alleyway.
This composition is brilliantly orchestrated by this leading figure of the Provençal School, at the forefront of Fauvism and Cubism, as the renowned art critic Guillaume Apollinaire wrote in 1913.
The work is presented in a modern black American-style frame measuring 84 cm x 61.5 cm, while the cardboard panel itself measures 77 cm x 54 cm.
In good condition, it is signed in the lower right corner and executed in oil on cardboard mounted on a beautiful wooden panel. On the back, an old label titles the painting: "The Vine near the Porch."
A modern, intense, and remarkable work.

Auguste Chabaud entered the Avignon School of Fine Arts in 1896, where he studied under Pierre Grivolas. Then, 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). 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, Auguste Chabaud had to leave Paris to earn a living; he embarked as a pilot's mate on a ship and discovered the West African coast. That same year, his father died. He inherited, along with his brother, the vineyard and lands that 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 women and sailors. Back in Paris, Chabaud made his debut in 1907 at the Salon des Indépendants, exhibiting alongside the Fauves. He discovered a new life: 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 lively 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 onward, 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 (The Thrust of Truth), Le Tambour Gautier (The Drummer Gautier), and Je me suis pris pour Démosthène (I Took Myself for Demosthenes).
Works in public collections:
France,
Toulon, Museum of Art: Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, oil on cardboard, 53 × 76 cm.
Troyes, Museum of Modern Art: The Train Station, 1907, oil on canvas, 73 × 100 cm.
Centre Pompidou, Beaubourg Museum, Paris;

Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg;
Vatican Museums, Rome;
Switzerland, Geneva, Petit Palais Museum.