Henri Malfroy (1895–1945) - Le Brusc (Var)

Henri Malfroy (Martigues 1895–1945)

Le Brusc (Var)

Oil on canvas, signed lower left “Malfroy”

Painting: 23 × 40 cm. Frame: 56 × 39 cm.
A rocky inlet on the Var coast. A cliff closes the left side; above it a pink house with a dark doorway and a figure on the path. Broken ochre rocks run into green water, a small boat with a rower sits offshore, and sails lie along the far shore under a pale sky.

Signed lower left Malfroy. The signature has been checked under ultraviolet light and sits in the paint. The stretcher is inscribed in pencil “Le Brusc (Var)”.

Henri (Charles Henri) Malfroy was born in Martigues on 15 January 1895, son of the Provençal painter Charles Malfroy (1862–1939), with whom he trained and whose studio he later took over. He showed at the Salon des Artistes Français and the Salon des Indépendants, and painted the ports and coasts of the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Var — Martigues, Cassis, Le Brusc — in a broad post-impressionist touch. He also sent a painting to the art competition of the 1928 Olympics. A member of the Resistance, he was deported and died at Buchenwald in 1945.

Style

Post-Impressionism. Provençal coast, École provençale.
Provenance

Private collection, Stockholm, acquired there in 2020.
Literature

E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, entry Henri Malfroy (Malfroy-Savigny), painter of landscapes and marines, École provençale, born Martigues 15 January 1895, pupil of his father Charles Malfroy.

Olympedia, “Henry Malfroy”: participant in the painting event at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Compare his coastal subjects of the Var, including La pointe du Brusc.

Support and frame

Oil on canvas, old stretcher, hanging wire. Later gilt composition frame; the outer rebate is worn and the paper lining on the reverse is torn.

Condition

Thick original paint, age craquelure in the sky and water. Ultraviolet light shows the signature consistent with the paint layer; no large restoration noted in the photographs. Not cleaned.
Dimensions

Work: 23 × 40 cm.

Framed: 56 × 39 cm.

The frame visible in the photo is included as a courtesy and does not form an integral part of the work. Any damage to the frame will not be a valid reason for complaints or cancellations of the order.