Paul Audra (1869-1948), Still Life with Grapes and Carafe, Signed Oil on Canvas, Early 20th Century, Framed

Still Life with Grapes and Carafe

Oil on canvas, 13 x 9 inches, signed lower right "Paul Audra", framed, French, early 20th century. Available to acquire.

A tall carafe stands at the left, pale gold and cream, its stopper a knot of blue-green. To the right, wine-dark grapes fall in a heavy mass, red at the edges and nearly black at the centre. Nothing here is drawn: the forms are turned out of colour by short curved strokes circling on themselves, and they hold their shape only because a painter knew when to stop. The canvas shows a small lack of pictorial layers, visible in the photographs and reflected in the price. Presented in a gilt frame with a lattice-carved outer moulding.

Paul Audra and the Studio of Gustave Moreau

Paul Audra (1869-1948) came up in the studio of Gustave Moreau, the same room that formed Matisse, Rouault and Marquet. He began showing at the Salons in 1897 and exhibited at the Salon d'Automne from 1907 to 1920, the years to which this canvas belongs. He painted fruit and glass, and it is not a small subject: the grape holds colour, the carafe holds light, and a canvas nine inches wide is enough to ask both questions at once.

→ Discover the life of Paul Audra, pupil of Gustave Moreau alongside Matisse and Rouault