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Lot 63
Joseph Raphael(1869-1950)Working in the Fields 31 x 47in overall: 40 x 55in
19 November 2018, 18:00 PST
Los AngelesUS$80,000 - US$120,000
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Joseph Raphael (1869-1950)
Working in the Fields
signed 'Joe Raphael' (lower left)
oil on canvas
31 x 47in
overall: 40 x 55in
signed 'Joe Raphael' (lower left)
oil on canvas
31 x 47in
overall: 40 x 55in
Footnotes
Provenance
Estate of the artist.
John H. Garzoli, San Rafael, California, acquired from the above.
Collection of Paul Andrieu & Barrett H. Willson, San Francisco, California.
Private collection, San Rafael, California.
Joseph Raphael was active in the Bay area during the 1890s, first as a newspaper illustrator and later as a sign painter. Like many of the artists of the time, Raphael wanted to continue his artistic education abroad. By 1903, he saved enough money to pursue studies in Paris. He attended classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Julian. By 1910, Raphael was back in Bay Area, where he exhibited his predominantly figural Dutch scenes at the San Francisco Art Association. He also met and studied with Arthur F. Mathews and Douglas Tilden at the California School of Design. Raphael returned to Holland in 1912, where he married Johanna Jongkindt and moved into a cottage in the small town of Uccle, a suburb of Brussels. It is in Uccle where Raphael seems to have settled into his 'signature' style, that of wide brushstrokes loaded with thick paint and bright colors. The bold impasto in his compositions is as thick as one finds within Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters. The artist's family, his vegetable garden and home were all popular scenes for Raphael to paint in these years. Additionally, the artist would set up his easel in neighboring orchards and capture local workers as they went about their daily task of picking seasonal crops. As Raphael's impressionist style matured, one sees an almost abstract quality developing in his brushwork. Perhaps this came from the speed at which he put paint to canvas, or perhaps the advancing taste for abstraction was influencing into his own work. In either case, Raphael's work is distinctly his own and instantly identifiable.
This vibrant style earned the artist the silver medal at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, where six of his canvases were displayed. Although he lived and worked in Europe for many years, Raphael always maintained close ties with the San Francisco art community and his loyal art dealer Nils "Nelson" R. Helgesen. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, Raphael continued to send oils, etchings, watercolors and woodcuts for exhibitions at Helgesen Galleries and others, establishing a continuing reputation in the Bay area in spite of his prolonged absence. Joseph Raphael continues to be one of the most popular artists amongst collectors of early California Impressionism.
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