Macario Vitalis,

Macario Vitalis, Seascape: Primel Point in Plougasnou.

Large oil on canvas by Macario Vitalis depicting Pointe de Primel, in the town of Plougasnou, along the customs officers’ path on the northern coast of Brittany. This rocky landscape, located near the artistic hub of Plestin-les-Grèves, is a quintessential example of the artist’s Breton period, when Vitalis painted steep shorelines, waves, rocks, and shifting light.

The composition depicts a coastline battered by the waves, with an ochre- and orange-hued beach in the foreground, a jumble of dark rocks in the center, and a choppy sea on the right where the white foam crashes against the deep blues. The sky, built up with broad, fragmented brushstrokes, contributes to the scene’s power: blue, green, gray, white, and pinkish clouds form a shifting structure that echoes the rocks and the sea. The composition is brought to life by a rich palette of petrol blues, muted greens, mauves, browns, ochres, deep reds, and luminous whites.

Macario Vitalis, born in 1898 in Lapog, in the province of Ilocos Sur in the Philippines, left his country at a very young age for the United States before moving to France in the 1920s. He moved in the modernist circles of the École de Paris, then joined Camille Renault’s circle in Puteaux, where he rubbed shoulders with major artists such as Jacques Villon, František Kupka, Fernand Léger, Albert Gleizes, and Jean Metzinger. His work retains this dual identity: a strong Filipino heritage and a French modernist training, influenced by Cubism, Impressionism, Pointillism, and landscape painting.

In this seascape, which encapsulates the painter’s Cubist-influenced period, Jacques Villon’s influence is evident in the layered composition, the fragmentation of forms, and the way the landscape is transformed into a colorful structure. Macario Vitalis recomposes the subject through masses, rhythms, and chromatic harmonies. The rocks become almost abstract blocks, the wave a large white mass, and the sky a mosaic of cool tones. The technique is highly accomplished: the brushwork remains free, yet the composition is solidly organized. The large format is perfectly mastered.

The work has been authenticated by the Association of Friends of the Painter Macario Vitalis, notably by its president, Mr. Le Bihan, who was kind enough to pinpoint the work’s location on the Breton coast. Our painting will be included in the artist’s upcoming catalog raisonné.

Oil on canvas, signed lower right.

Canvas dimensions: 81 x 54 cm.

Total dimensions with frame: 102 x 73 cm.

The painting is in good overall condition. No missing parts; no reported restoration. The painting only requires a surface cleaning to restore the full depth of the color palette and the brilliance of the white foam. Original frame, with minor visible signs of wear, included with the painting.