Jean Dufy

Jean Dufy (1888-1964) was a French painter whose distinctive body of work, filled with luminous scenes of Paris, orchestras, circuses, harbors, and flowers, has established him as one of the most beloved French painters of the twentieth century. Born in Le Havre, he was the younger brother of the celebrated Raoul Dufy, and while he emerged from the same family and city, he developed a personal artistic voice that has increasingly been appreciated on its own merits. His early years were spent working as a shipping clerk in Le Havre, a period during which he began to teach himself to paint and eventually pursued formal studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in his native city.

Dufy came to Paris around 1912, where he was quickly drawn into the vibrant avant-garde community that included his brother, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, and the Cubist circle. While the influence of both Raoul and the Cubists is visible in his early work, Jean gradually developed a signature style characterized by fluid, feathery brushwork, brilliant color, and a warm, celebratory atmosphere. His most iconic subjects, the elegant carriages of the Bois de Boulogne, the great Paris monuments, orchestras in performance, colorful circuses, and generous floral still lifes, occupy the joyful world that Dufy made uniquely his own.

Alongside his painting, Dufy worked for many years as a porcelain designer at the Haviland factory in Limoges, and he collaborated with his brother Raoul on the celebrated mural La Fée Électricité for the 1937 Paris Exposition. He received the Legion of Honor and exhibited widely throughout his career. His paintings are held in significant French and international collections, and he is recognized today as a distinguished French modernist whose work has continued to grow in critical and collector estimation.Jean Dufy was born in the port city of Le Havre in France in 1888. Jean was the seventh child of eleven born to a father who was both an accountant and a gifted musician. At the Le Havre Exposition in 1906 Dufy saw for the first times the works of Pierre Matisse, Andre Derain, Albert Marquet and Pablo Picasso. Dufy for the first time now knew definitively that he wanted to be an artist. Even though he was drafted in 1914, he continued to draw and to paint the flowers, horses, and landscapes that he saw in Val-d'Ajol, in the Vosges region of France where he recuperated after the war. In 1916 Dufy began to paint porcelain for Théodore Haviland in Limoges. In 1920 Dufy returned to Paris to live in Monmartre where one of his neighbors was Georges Braque. It was here that Dufy began to work seriously with colorful patchwork squares and bold areas of light. For the first time the public was able to view Dufy's work at the Salon D'Automne and Galerie Bing in Paris as well as at the Perls Galleries and Balzac Galleries in New York. Dufy often returned his birthplace in Le Havre where he painted monumental works that showcased his mastery of harmonizing colors. He and his wife also spent time in the regions of Limousin and Touraine where he often painted their forests and valleys. From 1950 until 1960 he traveled extensively throughout Europe and North Africa, but he always returned to Paris to paint her streets, her horse drawn carriages, the Eiffel Tower, her sky, the Seine and her gates in harmonious tones of blue. Throughout his lifetime Dufy had numerous exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic. Dufy died on May 12, 1964 in the village of Boussay just two short months after the passing of his beloved wife Ismérie.