A very beautiful impressionist oil on canvas by the official french marine painter of the government - Charles Fouqueray. This work is on its original canvas and in very good condition. The work depicts boats in a harbour and is signed lower right and in excellent condition - unlined and unrestored.
Dominique Fouqueray studied in the studios of Alexandre Cabanel and Fernand Cormon at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was familiar with a wide range of techniques and soon received various awards and honours, including the Rosa Bonheur prize in 1909 and a gold medal for engraving in 1920. He was a member of the jury of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and a member of the Institut and was made an Officier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Fouqueray decorated the town halls of Niort, Le Bourget and Fouras. He also produced numerous war posters. He painted decorative panels for the Exposition Coloniale of 1922 in Marseilles, and there is a panel showing the capture of the Douaumont fort by him in the Musée de la Guerre in Versailles. He also illustrated numerous works of literature, including: Chez les Anthropophages by E. Salgari in 1904; Un Sauvetage by L. Daudet in 1907; Les Croix de Bois by Dorgelès in 1925; Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad in 1928; Kim by Rudyard Kipling in 1931; Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London and ( Œuvres diverses) by Baudelaire in 1934; Roman d'un Spahi by Pierre Loti; Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne and Jonques et Sampans by Farrère in 1945; La Bataille by Claude Farrère in 1947 and Escale d'Asie also by Farrère in 1947, as well as En Mer. Fouqueray also collaborated on various magazines and journals including: L'Illustration, Univers Illustré, Revue Mame and the Monde Illustré; he also worked on periodicals published by the French naval ministry. He illustrated his publication The Uniforms of the French Navy ( Les Uniformes de la Marine Française). He was always attracted by travel and the colonies and was known as one of the outstanding official artists of the colonial war of the first half of the 20th century.
He was a committee member of the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris and exhibited there from 1890 to 1955; he also exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1900.
Museum and Gallery Holdings
Bordeaux: First Prairial, Year III (9 May 1795) (Le 1er Prairial, an III)
La Rochelle: Roll Call on the Deck of the Cruiser Jean-Bart
Paris (MAMVP): Barbarossa's Sailors; Palermo; Death in the Leissèques Camp
Rochefort: Algeciras
Versailles (Mus. de la Guerre): Capture of Douaumont Fort
Auction Records
Paris, 20 Nov 1925: On the Front (1916, watercolour) FRF 140
Paris, 17 and 18 June 1927: The English Enter Contalmaison in the Somme (1916, watercolour) FRF 160
Paris, 28 June 1929: Street in Amsterdam at Evening (watercolour) FRF 190
Paris, July 1946: Ships at Sea; Naval Combat (two watercolours) FRF 1,200
Paris, 19 March 1947: Eastern Port (watercolour) FRF 1,000
Paris, 18 Feb 1980: Disembarking at a Port in Arabia (oil on canvas, 39¼ × 32 ins/100 × 81 cm) FRF 6,500
New York, 28 Oct 1986: Society Ladies and Officers on the Deck of a Warship (oil on canvas, 18¼ × 21¾ ins/46.5 × 55.3 cm) USD 14,000
Paris, 7 Nov 1988: Slaves (oil on canvas, 59 × 42½ ins/149 × 108 cm) FRF 35,000
Paris, 10 April 1989: Naval Combat (1911, oil on canvas, 25½ × 21¼ ins/65 × 54 cm) FRF 6,500
Paris, 9 Nov 1990: Palmyra (1919, oil on canvas, 21¼ × 25¾ ins/54 × 65.5 cm) FRF 10,500
Paris, 22 June 1992: The Port of Akaba on the Red Sea (1917, gouache, 17½ × 12½ ins/44.5 × 32 cm) FRF 6,200
Paris, 5 April 1993: The Port of Yambo Em-Bahr (oil on canvas, 21¼ × 25½ ins/54 × 65 cm) FRF 20,000
Paris, 3 June 1994: Breton Peasant Women (oil on canvas, 21¼ × 25½ ins/54 × 64.5 cm) FRF 4,700
Paris, 9 Dec 1996: At the Town Gates, Morocco (oil on canvas, 18 × 15 ins/45.6 × 38 cm) FRF 8,000
Paris, 8 March 1999: Jerusalem (1919, gouache, 20 × 26 ins/50 × 65 cm) FRF 10,000
Paris, 29 June 1999: Halt at Palmyre (1919, oil on canvas, 21 × 26 ins/54 × 65 cm) FRF 50,000
Paris, 12 May 2000: Al Quads Fountain in Jerusalem (1919, oil on canvas, 29 × 21 ins/73 × 54 cm) FRF 30,000
Paris, 17 Dec 2001: Street Scene (oil on canvas, 26 × 21 ins/65 × 54 cm) FRF 12,000
Paris, 24 June 2002: Feast at Akala (1918, mixed media on paper on canvas, 39 × 24 ins/99 × 61 cm) EUR 2,000
Neuilly, 19 Dec 2002: Aboard the Steamer La Couronne (1895, oil on canvas, 25 × 26 ins/64 × 65 cm) EUR 15,000
London, 10 March 2004: Rowing Ashore (oil on canvas, 46 × 35 ins/116 × 90 cm) GBP 1,500
St-Germain-en-Laye, 21 March 2004: Sacred Baths at Madura (1921, watercolour, 15 × 11 ins/37 × 28 cm) EUR 3,100
Bibliography
Osterwalder, Marcus (ed.): Dictionnaire des illustrateurs 1800-1914, Ides et Calendes, Neuchâtel, 1989.
Beguin Billecocq, Xavier: Charles Fouqueray, un peintre français en Arabie saoudite, 1917-1924, Beguin Billecocq, Paris, 1998.
