Le s d e s s i n s d e Ma rq u e t
Le MuMa conserve aujourd’hui 23 dessins de Marquet pour l’essentiel entrés dans les collections en 2004 par le don de Madame Hélène Senn-Foulds de la collection héritée de son grand-père, Ol ivier Senn. Parmi ceux-ci, ce portrait de Matisse en haut-de-forme, réal isé vers 1900, qui témoigne de l’amitié solide qui lie Marquet et Matisse depuis leur rencontre à l’école des arts décoratifs en 1892. Les deux artistes se retrouvent ensuite à l’École des beaux-arts mais n’hésitent pas à s’échapper de l’atelier de Gustave Moreau pour aller dessiner sur le motif
C a r Ma rq u e t a i m e l e s r u e s e t l e u r a n i m a t i o n , d o n t l ’ o b s e r va t i o n n o u r r i t s o n a r t . E n 1 9 0 4 , i l e s t s o l l i c i té p a r C h a rl e s -L o u i s Ph i l i p p e p o u r i l l u s t re r B u b u d e Mo n t p a r n a s s e , q u i s e ve u t u n “ ro m a n d o c u m e n t a i re ” s u r l e s v i c i s s i t u d e s d ’ u n e j e u n e o u v r i è re c o n t r a i n t e à l a p ro s t i t u t i o n À c e t t e s é r i e d e d e s s i n s , f i n a l e m e n t re f u s é e p a r l ’é d i t e u r, a p p a r t i e n n e n t notamment les Trois Études de personnages avec parapluie ou Femme, enfant et h o m m e d e d o s
D ’ u n s i m p l e t r a i t d ’ e n c re , M a rq u e t c a m p e t o u t u n m o n d e d e p e r s o n n a g e s , d o n t l e s s i l h o u e t t e s t r a c é e s a u p i n c e a u f o n t i r ré m é d i a b l e m e n t p e n s e r à l ’ a r t j a p o n a i s M a t i s s e l u i-m ê m e q u a l i f i a i t s o n a m i d e “ n o uve l Ho ku s a ï” C e s é t u d e s n o u s re n s e i g n e n t s u r l ’é c r i t u re d e M a rq u e t d o n t l e s t o i l e s s o n t p e u p l é e s d e c e s f i g u re s f u r t ive s s i m p l e m e n t e s q u i s s é e s .
Marquet’s drawings
MuMa now has 23 drawings by Marquet Most of them joined the museum ’ s collections in 2004 as a result of Hélène Senn-Foulds’ donation of the collection of artworks she had inherited from her grandfather, Olivier Senn T hese include the portrait of Matisse in a top hat done in about 1900, which records the staunch friendship between Marquet and Matisse, who first met at the École des arts décoratifs in 1892. T hey subsequently studied together at the École des beaux-arts - and often slipped away from Gustave Moreau’s studio to go and draw from life
Marquet loved the bustle of the streets, and his observation of street scenes fed into his art In 1904, Charles-Louis Philippe asked him to provide illustrations for Bubu de Montparnasse, which was intended to be a documentary novel about the tribulations of a working-class girl forced into prostitution Marquet’s series of illustrations, which ended up being refused by the publisher, include drawings such as Trois Études de personnages avec parapluie (T hree Studies of Figures with Umbrellas) and Femme, enfant et homme de dos (Woman, Child and Man, Back View)
In just a few strokes, Marquet delineates a whole world of characters. T heir silhouettes, drawn in ink with a brush, irresistibly conjure up Japanese art Matisse himself described his friend as “the new Hokusai” These studies give us an insight into Marquet’s style: his paintings are peopled with simply drawn, furtive figures of this kind.