Lot 547: Raphaël Delorme (1885-1962)

Raphaël Delorme (1885-1962)
Les mouettes
signed 'RAPHAEL DELORME' (lower left)
oil on canvas
31 7/8 x 39 3/8 in. (81 x 100 cm.)

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Raphaël Delorme was born in Bordeaux in 1890 and during his lifetime was associated with other artists of the Bordeaux school, such as Jean Dupas, Robert Eugène Pougheon, René Buthaud, Jean Gabriel Domergue, Jean Despujols and Alfred Janniot. The present work was most probably executed during the latter half of the 1920s, following the inclusion of Jean Dupas' Les perruches in the long-awaited Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, the spectacular exhibition which gave us the term "Art Deco". International acclaim followed and Delorme found himself at the hub of a group of artists who now represented the height of the Art Deco movement.

Reminiscent of the grand decorative schemes of his colleagues Pougheon and Dupas, Delorme's women are intensely stylised, representing not only the modern age but also the essence of modernity itself, despite their classical surroundings. His nudes achieve a sculptural monumentality akin to that of Tamara de Lempicka, but are described with a softness that recalls the five passions of Dupas' Les perruches (in fact the inclusion of the two parakeets at the lower right might well be a tribute to Dupas). Lempicka's powerful women are often characterized by decorative references to technological advances of the era while Delorme's are more rooted in the classical world, but they share the same sensuality and languidness, providing a human contrast to the world surrounding them.