Pierre Ambrogiani (1907–1985) Oil On Canvas: Portrait Of A Woman

Early 20th-century Provençal School oil-on-canvas painting signed by Pierre Ambrogiani (1907–1985), countersigned on the back by the artist and titled, followed by a certification stamp indicating that this work is cataloged and protected. A beautiful Fauvist composition enlivened by an alchemy of powerful and expressive colors in a vivid, sun-drenched palette, punctuated by generous and vigorous brushstrokes applied with a palette knife to create a subtle sculptural effect. Original gilded wood frame. Good overall condition; dimensions: 69 cm x 48 cm

Pierre Ambrogiani, a painter from Marseille, set up his studio on Cours d’Estienne d’Orves, and he quickly became one of the most remarkable figures in 20th-century Provençal art. Dubbed “the color connoisseur,” he “masoned” his works with a palette knife using juxtaposed colors; his style lies somewhere between Fauvism—due to the intensity of his colors— and Expressionism, due to the extreme power of his realistic vision of nature. The Museum of Modern Art in Paris has acquired several of his works. The Vieille Charité in Marseille paid tribute to his 50 years of artistic life. “I dream of painting with the colors of the sun.” His passionate work embodied the poetry of an enthusiastic and popular colorist, a lover of still lifes featuring summer fruits, and a creator of landscapes with powerful architecture, giving the impression of a third dimension. He also cultivated the nude, a medium conducive to exploring line and the subject’s relationship to space, a genre in which he never ceased to work and excel. With his painter and artist friends from the Cours d’Estienne d’Orves in Marseille (Antoine Serra, Antoine Ferrari, René Seyssaud, Auguste Chabaud, and others), they would gather at aperitif time in front of the bar counter at the “Péano,” where the poet would improvise his songs, the painter would illuminate them with his sun-drenched palette, and the journalist would jot down notes and witticisms in his notebook. His friendship with Chabaud and Seyssaud—whose painting styles were so different—was indispensable to the innovations to come. His name is inextricably linked to those of Pagnol, Giono, Carco, Utrillo, Pignon, Buffet, and Malraux, who served as his guiding lights and points of reference. Throughout his artistic career in Marseille, Paris, and elsewhere, he rubbed shoulders with Rouault, Soutine, Chagall, Friesz, Picasso, Audibert, Desnoyer, and other talented figures. He participated in numerous group exhibitions of contemporary French art in France and abroad from 1948 to 1980, including in Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, New York, London, Oxford, Philadelphia, Turin, and Zurich. Over the years, he became a household name in France and a figure of international stature, flying the flag for modernism in Provence.