Kees Van Dongen

Born in Rotterdam (Netherlands), Kees van Dongen left for Paris at age 20. There, he married Augusta Preitinger, an artist he had met during a brief stint at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam (they would divorce in 1921). Initially, Van Dongen earned a living as a house painter and magazine illustrator. Initially leaning towards the Impressionists, his breakthrough came in 1905 with a controversial exposition in the Salon d’Automne, which earned the artists on display the nickname Les Fauves („the wild beasts“), which eventually resulted in the fauvist style, characterized by crude forms and bright colors. Eventually he turned to the German Expressionists.

He was originally known for painting (female) nudes, but from the 1920s he turned to portrait painting of famous persons – such as Aga Khan III, Maurice Chevalier and Brigitte Bardot – which is generally considered to be of lower artistic quality than his earlier work. In 1926, Van Dongen was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honor, and in 1929 he became a French citizen. He was also a close friend of Pablo Picasso. The last decade of his life, van Dongen lived in Monaco, where he died in 1968, aged 91. His younger brother, Jan van Dongen, was also an artist (a sculptor).

The picture Boxing Exhibition, also titled Boxing Exhibition avec Charly was probably created in 1912, but the years 1905 and 1908 are also mentioned. The oil painting measures 131 x 97 cm. It shows members of the avant-garde literary and artistic circles while training in Van Dongen’s studio. British-Swiss poet, amateur boxer and artist Arthur Cravan is depicted while sparring with boxer Charley Macavoy, watched by art dealer Joseph Altounian. Another oil painting, Balancing (130 x 97 cm), was also created in 1907 but under the title L’équilibriste. It was auctioned at Sotheby’s in 2006 for around 2.5 million Euros.