Auguste CHABAUD 1882 - 1955 - The path to the farmhouse

Oil on cardboard signed lower right "A. CHABAUD." On the back is a preparatory drawing in grease pencil of a similar subject. Dimensions: Box height: Height 38.5cm Width: 53cm - Frame height 55.5cm Width 70cm. French painter and sculptor Auguste Chabaud was born on October 3, 1882 in Nîmes. He died on May 23, 1955 in Graveson. Pupil of Pierre Grivolas at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Avignon, Auguste Chaubaud, following the advice of his teacher, went into exile in Paris in 1899. There, he enrolled in Fernand Cormon's studio and attended academies Jullian and Carrière. In Paris, he also rubs shoulders with Matisse, Puy and Derain. In Paris, Chabaud exhibits at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne, alongside the main protagonists of Fauvism. The vehemence of the brushstroke, a certain feeling of the unfinished (resulting in him by a great simplification of the drawing), the use of pure colors, are all characteristics that he shares with the Fauve artists. In Montmartre, where he has his studio, Chabaud paints busy streets and deserted squares, in a rapid, synthetic writing, sometimes close to caricature. His paintings from the Fauve period perfectly describe Parisian nightlife: cabarets, theater cafes, prostitutes, in bright colors (yellow, red) contrasting with the colors of the night (navy blue, black). Juxtaposing the raw colors, outlining the shapes with a thick black line, Auguste Chabaud captures the figures frontally or brutally cuts their profile, describes the loneliness of men in the modern world. In 1913, Chabaud exhibited in New York alongside Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck and Picasso. On his return from the war in 1919, Auguste Chabaud settled permanently in Graveson, in the middle of the Alpilles. He stayed there until the end of his life, secluded in his house with his wife and seven children. As Cézanne had done with the Sainte Victoire, Chabaud immortalized "the mountain", painting countryside scenes, peasants walking the hills and paths of the Alpilles. Devoid of any folklore, the Provence of Chabaud is monumental, burnt under the relentless light of the sun. The landscape, resolved into simple shapes, is built from a few emblematic elements, in a reduced chromaticism, gradually dominated by a dazzling Prussian blue. Proud of his roots, Chabaud will always claim an instinctive art and a marginal position in the artistic field. We can see some of his works at the Cantini museum in Marseille, at the Modern Art museum in Paris, at the Petit Palais museum in Geneva.