Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) French, "EPSOM" Color Lithograph. Depicts a horseracing scene. Signature and title in print bottom left. Original label on back. 

Overall: 37 1/2 X 22 1/2 in. 

Sight: 24 1/2 X 19 1/2 in. 

Depth: 2 1/2 in. 

#3826 . 

Raoul Dufy was born on June 3rd, 1877 in Le Havre, France. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, as well as with Othon Friesz and Lhuillier. Although inspired by Matisse and resembling him in his devotion to rhythmic line, pure color and decorative effects, Dufy was a painter of great independence and originality. During the first half of the 20th Century the Fauves, Cubists, and Surrealists dominated the art of France. Throughout all of these developments, Dufy went on painting the most highly civilized subjects he could find, the elegant holiday places and events of the rich. Dufy’s palette and his taste for beauty eventually led him to the world of fashion and fabric design. He formed a close relationship with the couturier Paul Poiret, for whose fashion house he designed a logo and silk fabrics. This association brought him life-long financial security. He eventually became one of the most sought-after illustrators of his day and designed sets and costumes for theaters, as well as upholstery and wallpaper. One of the largest paintings of modern times was the gigantic mural done by Raoul Dufy for the Pavillion of Electricity at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. The finished work, depicting the history and importance of electricity to the 20th Century, was 197 feet wide and 33 feet high. After the Exposition closed the mural was stored away from public view in 250 sections, as it was too big to exhibit anywhere. A Paris publisher proposed that Dufy reproduce the mural as a color lithograph, and he spent the rest of his life completing the most ambitious lithography project ever undertaken: three feet high by twenty feet wide, done in twenty-two colors and printed in ten sheets. Although he only ever visited America twice he was a vocal supporter of the country and its strengths, and his last visit was in 1951 for treatment for arthritis. He died on December 12th, 1953 in his home in Forcalquier, France.