Medium: Watercolour on paper. Signed: Signed lower right. Size: 8. Framed Size: Condition: Excellent. Provenance: Private collection - UK. Kees van Dongen's father first placed him in a school of industrial design and decorative art in Rotterdam. Later, in , he became a pupil of J. Striening and J. Heyberg at the academy of fine arts in Rotterdam. His first paintings of this period were signed C.
Van Dongen and from he published drawings, often of street women, in local newspapers, notably the Rotterdamsche Nieuwsblad where they created a scandal. However, lack of resources obliged him to resort to menial work as a porter at Les Halles, a furniture remover, a portrait painter on the terraces of cafes and a professional wrestler.
In his daughter Augusta was born and nicknamed Dolly. Fernande Olivier, then Picasso's companion, often modelled for him. He had been introduced into so-called 'high society' by his new companion, Leo Jasmy Jacob. In he made a visit to Venice and in he settled in a luxurious private mansion in Paris at 5 rue Juliette-Lamber. The studio on the first floor was his working area. In he transferred his Paris studio to rue de Courcelles and in he entered into a relationship with Marie-Claire Huguen, who gave him a son, Jean-Marie.
His activity was intense up to World War II; it then slowed down. After the war he abandoned large works and painted new portraits, among which was one of the actress Brigitte Bardot. He divided his time between Paris, Deauville and the Midi, where he set up home with his new companion and their son in Monaco. The personal difficulties of his youth had put him in a position to understand the social misfortunes brought about by the industrial period, and he dedicated part of his work to representing those excluded from society.
During this period, in part occupied with making rapid sketches of typical street characters in Paris, he was particularly influenced by the incisive lines of Steinlein, Forain and Toulouse-Lautrec, influences that contributed to the apparent simplification of his drawing. From a special issue of L'Assiette au Beurre: Petite histoire pour petits et grands nenfants sic was given over totally to his drawings, which earned him francs.
