Roger Chastel
The card game , dated 1957
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower left
Dimensions: 130 x 195cm
Price upon request
Roger Chastel gives us a peaceful and joyful family scene, sparkling with colors. A family has gathered around the table, on which decanters, bottles, glasses and fruit bear witness to a family meal that has just ended. The atmosphere is relaxed. The father seems to be playing card tricks on his two children, who only have eyes for the game; the mother, leaning on the table, observes and rests.
The shades of yellow, orange and ocher are harmonious; the painter demonstrates his talents as a colourist. Roger Chastel, as usual, stylizes and simplifies forms, uses flat areas of paint. It is situated between abstraction and figuration, it can be described as “abstract figurative”.
In his work strongly influenced by cubism, he seeks the essential through synthesis and refinement. During his career, he painted one of the panels of the Palace of the League of Nations in Geneva with Vuillard, Roussel and Maurice Denis. Professor appreciated by the Beaux-Arts de Paris, he participated in numerous collective and personal exhibitions. He represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1952.
Bibliography :
• B. Dorival, The painters of the 20th century
• JL Ferrier, Modern Times
• J. Mistler, Roger Chastel, The masters of tomorrow collection, Sequana editions, 1943
• R. Huygue and J. Rudel, “Art and the modern world”, Volume 2, Paris, 1970
• J. Cassou, “Panorama of the plastic arts”, Paris, 1960
• Dictionary of Contemporary Abstract Art , Hazan editions, Paris, 1957
Museums :
• In Paris: National Museum of Modern Art, Luxembourg Museum, Paris.
• In France: museum of the baux-arts of Nice, museum of Pontoise.
• Internationally: Turin Museum of Modern Art; Tunis Museum of Fine Arts; Baltimore Museum in Boston; the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburg, Museum of São Paulo, Brazil.
