- Product:
- 'Fish' six panel screen
- Manufacturer:
- Phillips
- Architonic ID:
- 4102967
- Launched:
- 1924
- Country:
- United States
- Category:
- Furnishings
- Address
- Telephone
- Website
Key facts
Product description
THIS FINE LACQUER SCREEN WAS FIRST SHOWN BY JEAN DUNAND AT AN EXHIBITION OF HIS WORKS IN 1924 AT THE GALERIE GEORGES PETIT, PARIS. DUNAND HAD PRESENTED HIS FIRST SCREENS JUST THREE YEARS PREVIOUSLY. THEY WERE THE IDEAL FORM IN WHICH TO EXECUTE VIRTUOSO DISPLAYS OF HIS SKILLS AS A CRAFTSMAN AND TO DEMONSTRATE HIS ABILITIES AS A DECORATIVE ARTIST. THIS WAS ALSO, OF COURSE, A FORM THAT HAD A LONG HISTORY IN THE ARTS OF CHINA AND JAPAN, AND SO PROVIDED A LOGICAL CONNECTION IN THE OCCIDENTAL APPLICATION OF AN ORIENTAL TECHNIQUE.
ANIMAL SUBJECTS, IN SOME CASES NATURALISTICALLY RENDERED, IN OTHER INSTANCES MORE ADVENTUROUSLY DEPICTED IN HIGHLY STYLIZED DESIGNS, AS IN THE PRESENT WORK, WERE AMONG DUNAND'S FAVORED THEMES. THOUGH HE HAD EXHIBITED A TWO-PANEL SCREEN DECORATED WITH STYLIZED FISH THE PREVIOUS YEAR, THIS SIX-PANEL SCREEN ON ITS DISTINCTIVE SIGNATURE STEPPED FEET WAS HIS FIRST RECORDED MULTI-PANEL FOLDING SCREEN ON THIS THEME. THIS PIECE HAS A DELICACY IN ITS SMALL SCALE AND AN EXCEPTIONAL FINESSE IN THE GRAPHIC SOPHISTICATION OF ITS DECORATION. IT WAS A FINE AND AMBITIOUS WORK BY AN ARTIST WHO HAD ACHIEVED MATURITY, AND AS SUCH IT WAS AN APPROPRIATE PRELUDE TO DUNAND'S TRIUMPHS OF THE FOLLOWING YEAR. FOR "IN EVERY SENSE THE ARTISTS OF THE DAY FELT THAT 1924 OFFERED THE LAST REAL OPPORTUNITY TO PERFECT THEIR INDIVIDUAL WORKS BEFORE THEY APPEARED THE FOLLOWING YEAR AT THE GREAT EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS ET INDUSTRIELS MODERNES" (FELIX MARCILHAC, JEAN DUNAND; HIS LIFE AND WORKS, LONDON, 1991, P. 65).
THE USE OF HIGHLY FORMALIZED ANIMAL MOTIFS WAS TO BE A STRONG FEATURE OF DUNAND'S 1925 EXHIBIT, IN SUCH WORKS AS THE LARGE CABINET MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH JACQUES-EMILE RUHLMANN AND JEAN-LAMBERT RUCKI AND THE UPRIGHT CABINET THAT WAS A CENTERPIECE OF HIS OWN SMOKING ROOM DISPLAY.
THE CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ OF DUNAND'S PRODUCTION SHOWS HIM RETURNING TO THE FISH THEME FOR SCREENS ON A SMALL NUMBER OF FURTHER OCCASIONS. HE EXHIBITED FISH SCREENS IN 1927 (TWO SCREENS, CAT. NOS. 44 AND 45), 1928 (TWO, CAT. NOS. 54 AND 55), 1929 (ONE, CAT. NO. 63), AND THE CATALOGUE RECORDS TWO OTHERS (NOS. 94 AND 95) AND A GOUACHE PROJECT FOR A THIRD (NO. 130).
COLORED LACQUERS AND METALLIC LACQUERS ON A BLACK LACQUER GROUND, THE REVERSE PLAIN BLACK LACQUER, INSCRIBED "JEAN DUNAND LAQUEUR"
591/2 X 515/8 IN. (151 X 131 CM)
EXHIBITED:
GALERIE GEORGES PETIT, PARIS, 1924, NO. 23
PROVENANCE:
LAURIN, GUILLOUX, BUFFETAUD, TAILLEUR, PARIS, DECEMBER 9, 1976, LOT 180
ILLUSTRATED:
FELIX MARCILHAC, JEAN DUNAND; HIS LIFE AND WORKS, LONDON, 1991, P. 202, PL. 15
LITERATURE:
TONY DELORENZO, JEAN DUNAND, NEW YORK, 1985, PP. 18 AND 21 FOR SIMILAR EXAMPLES
NO OTHER DECORATIVE MOTIF EXEMPLIFIES BETTER THE DUAL INFLUENCES OF THE EAST AND WEST ON DUNAND THAN HIS DESIGNS FOR GOLDFISH. HE RETAINED THE JAPANESE NATURALISTIC DESIGN OF THE FISH, AND APPLIED IT WITH A SELECTION OF EUROPEAN MODERNISTIC LINEAR AND ABSTRACT PATTERNS IN THE MOST COLORFUL OF LACQUERS (TONY DELORENZO, JEAN DUNAND, NEW YORK, 1985, P. 18).
ANIMAL SUBJECTS, IN SOME CASES NATURALISTICALLY RENDERED, IN OTHER INSTANCES MORE ADVENTUROUSLY DEPICTED IN HIGHLY STYLIZED DESIGNS, AS IN THE PRESENT WORK, WERE AMONG DUNAND'S FAVORED THEMES. THOUGH HE HAD EXHIBITED A TWO-PANEL SCREEN DECORATED WITH STYLIZED FISH THE PREVIOUS YEAR, THIS SIX-PANEL SCREEN ON ITS DISTINCTIVE SIGNATURE STEPPED FEET WAS HIS FIRST RECORDED MULTI-PANEL FOLDING SCREEN ON THIS THEME. THIS PIECE HAS A DELICACY IN ITS SMALL SCALE AND AN EXCEPTIONAL FINESSE IN THE GRAPHIC SOPHISTICATION OF ITS DECORATION. IT WAS A FINE AND AMBITIOUS WORK BY AN ARTIST WHO HAD ACHIEVED MATURITY, AND AS SUCH IT WAS AN APPROPRIATE PRELUDE TO DUNAND'S TRIUMPHS OF THE FOLLOWING YEAR. FOR "IN EVERY SENSE THE ARTISTS OF THE DAY FELT THAT 1924 OFFERED THE LAST REAL OPPORTUNITY TO PERFECT THEIR INDIVIDUAL WORKS BEFORE THEY APPEARED THE FOLLOWING YEAR AT THE GREAT EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS ET INDUSTRIELS MODERNES" (FELIX MARCILHAC, JEAN DUNAND; HIS LIFE AND WORKS, LONDON, 1991, P. 65).
THE USE OF HIGHLY FORMALIZED ANIMAL MOTIFS WAS TO BE A STRONG FEATURE OF DUNAND'S 1925 EXHIBIT, IN SUCH WORKS AS THE LARGE CABINET MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH JACQUES-EMILE RUHLMANN AND JEAN-LAMBERT RUCKI AND THE UPRIGHT CABINET THAT WAS A CENTERPIECE OF HIS OWN SMOKING ROOM DISPLAY.
THE CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ OF DUNAND'S PRODUCTION SHOWS HIM RETURNING TO THE FISH THEME FOR SCREENS ON A SMALL NUMBER OF FURTHER OCCASIONS. HE EXHIBITED FISH SCREENS IN 1927 (TWO SCREENS, CAT. NOS. 44 AND 45), 1928 (TWO, CAT. NOS. 54 AND 55), 1929 (ONE, CAT. NO. 63), AND THE CATALOGUE RECORDS TWO OTHERS (NOS. 94 AND 95) AND A GOUACHE PROJECT FOR A THIRD (NO. 130).
COLORED LACQUERS AND METALLIC LACQUERS ON A BLACK LACQUER GROUND, THE REVERSE PLAIN BLACK LACQUER, INSCRIBED "JEAN DUNAND LAQUEUR"
591/2 X 515/8 IN. (151 X 131 CM)
EXHIBITED:
GALERIE GEORGES PETIT, PARIS, 1924, NO. 23
PROVENANCE:
LAURIN, GUILLOUX, BUFFETAUD, TAILLEUR, PARIS, DECEMBER 9, 1976, LOT 180
ILLUSTRATED:
FELIX MARCILHAC, JEAN DUNAND; HIS LIFE AND WORKS, LONDON, 1991, P. 202, PL. 15
LITERATURE:
TONY DELORENZO, JEAN DUNAND, NEW YORK, 1985, PP. 18 AND 21 FOR SIMILAR EXAMPLES
NO OTHER DECORATIVE MOTIF EXEMPLIFIES BETTER THE DUAL INFLUENCES OF THE EAST AND WEST ON DUNAND THAN HIS DESIGNS FOR GOLDFISH. HE RETAINED THE JAPANESE NATURALISTIC DESIGN OF THE FISH, AND APPLIED IT WITH A SELECTION OF EUROPEAN MODERNISTIC LINEAR AND ABSTRACT PATTERNS IN THE MOST COLORFUL OF LACQUERS (TONY DELORENZO, JEAN DUNAND, NEW YORK, 1985, P. 18).