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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR, UK
Lot 38AR
CARLOS NADAL(1917-1998)L'Armoire rouge
19 October 2023, 17:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£18,000 - £25,000
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CARLOS NADAL (1917-1998)
L'Armoire rouge
signed 'Nadal' (lower right); signed, inscribed and dated 'l'Armoire Rouge Nadal 70' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
60.1 x 73cm (23 11/16 x 28 3/4in).
Painted in 1970
signed 'Nadal' (lower right); signed, inscribed and dated 'l'Armoire Rouge Nadal 70' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
60.1 x 73cm (23 11/16 x 28 3/4in).
Painted in 1970
Footnotes
Provenance
Duncalfe Galleries, Harrogate (acquired directly from the artist).
Evelyn Margaret Roper-Nunn Collection, UK (acquired from the above, circa 1986-1987).
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 19 October 1990, lot 209.
Private collection, UK; their sale, Bonhams, London, 4 February 2014, lot 35.
Private collection, London (acquired at the above sale).
Literature
J. Duncalfe, Carlos Nadal, 1917-1998, An English Perspective, Harrogate, 2010 (illustrated p. 281).
Through his vibrant colours and playful calligraphic gestures, Carlos Nadal transforms commonplace scenes such as the interior of L'Armoire rouge into a joyous celebration of life. This lyrical optimism is made more poignant given Nadal's harsh experiences of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, and it is this sense of joy together with his zesty use of colour which links his work with that of the Fauvists. As John Duncalfe says, he was the 'last wild expressionist of Spain' (J. Duncalfe, 'Carlos Nadal, Obituary', in The Independent, 20 June 1998). In his later work, Nadal acknowledges the influence of the Fauvists, as well as his personal connections with modern masters like André Derain and Pablo Picasso. Thus, L'Armoire rouge comes from a series of paintings where Nadal pays homage to such artists by replicating their artwork in interiors. As the writer L. Gascoigne says, 'Nadal's vision is unquestionably his own' (L. Gascoigne, 'Fauve at Heart', in The Artists and Illustrators Magazine, September 1996). It is this unique vision which gives his paintings a fresh perspective on the world.