René Domergue, France
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux (a gift from the above in 1993 and sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 21, 2007, lot 54)
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale and sold: Christie's, London, February 5, 2008, lot 226)
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galerie Romanet, Réalité et Poésie ou La Joie de peindre
Paris, Cinquentenaire du Salon d'Automne, 1953
Paris, Musée Galliéra, Louis Valtat, 1956, no. 62
Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Les Fauves, 1962, no. 109
Bordeaux, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Louis Valtat (1869-1952), Exposition rétrospective, 1995, no. 64, illustrated in the catalogue
Turin, Palazzo Bricherasio & Lodève, Musée de Lodève, Les Fauves et la critique, 1999, no. 32, illustrated in the catalogue
Barcelona, Centre Cultural Caixa Catalunya, Els anys fauves, 1904-1908, 2000-01, no. 51. illustrated in the catalogue

Gaston Diehl, Les Fauves, Paris, 1971, illustrated p. 140 

This work is in very good condition. Canvas is lined and edges are reinforced with tape. Surface retains lovely texture and is clean. Under UV light, there are pindot restorations at all four corners and at center of bottom edge. Otherwise fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1905, at the time he painted Voiliers au port, Valtat exhibited with Matisse, Marquet, Camoin, Manguin, Vlaminck, Derain, Dufy and van Dongen at the famous Salon d’Automne, the groundbreaking exhibition credited with introducing the art of the Fauves to the public. Indeed, it may be said that many of Valtat’s earlier pictures prefigured the advent of the Fauves, as Gaston Diehl writes, “his impulsive eloquence and his insatiable need for colour make it possible today to place him as a precursor of the great events of the century” (Gaston Diehl, The Fauves, New York, 1975).

As Sarah Whitfield further observes, “Louis Valtat, whose colour appears to float on the surface of the canvas, is another painter somewhat loosely bracketed with the Fauves. Both Valtat, who like Matisse was born in 1869, and Seyssaud, who was two years older, belonged to the generation of painters who understood the picture surface to be primarily a flat piece of canvas covered with areas of paint” (Sarah Whitfield, Fauvism, London, 1991, p. 28). Valtat was further connected to the leading proponents of the Fauve movement both throug𓆉h his activity in the Salons and through his dealer, Ambroise Vollard, who represented him from 1900 onward alongside Matisse and Derain (see fig. 1). Indeed, he was among the greatest advent-garde figures of his time, and even his early canvases were occasionally exhibited alongside paintings by Jawlensky an🀅d Kandinsky.

Despite the sweeping scale of this composition and the bold execution of the brushstrokes, there is a quietness inherent in the composition which Raymond Cogniat has identified as an underlying characteristic of Valtat's work: “Valtat was in his own way, an intimiste, not only when he painted interiors or flowers or still lifes in his warm tones, but also when he turned his joie de vivre to the landscapes that indicated his constant preoccupation with the representation of nature as he saw it, bathed in peace and sunlight. His canvases are suffused with light like that of a golden summer's day” (Raymond Cogniat, Louis Valtat, Paris, 1963, p. 30).