WILLIAM MALHERBE | A Harmony of Colour
Signed 'William Malherbe' (lower right)
Oil on Canvas
51 x 40.5 cms / 20 x 16 inches
A Harmony of Colour captures Malherbe's refined sensitivity to colour and atmosphere. Painted with confident, expressive brushwork, the composition centres on a vibrant bouquet of poppies, daisies and summer blooms arranged in a simple glass vase. Malherbe balances rich pinks, yellows and whites against a cool blue ground, creating a gentle tension between warmth and calm. The loose, impressionistic handling allows colour to take precedence over strict form, giving the work a sense of freshness.
William Malherbe was born in Senlis, a medieval cathedral town north of Paris, in 1884. Displaying a native talent for painting from a young age he began exhibiting in the capital at the remarkably young age of 18. In his early twenties, he eschewed more formal pictorial training in favour of attending the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in order to study architecture. However, he evidently never lost his love for painting, to which he returned after only a year and a half.
After his studies, Malherbe experimented with a range of modernist styles: ranging from Cubism and Fauvism to Post-Impressionism. He eventually ended up with a uniquely colouristic style, that combined Impressionist subject matter with a fauvist tonal range. On account of Malherbe’s singular style, Gustave Kahn the renowned symbolist art critic referred to him as one of the ‘particularly interesting artists of the period’, who had always stayed true to his own unique vision.
Well regarded from his early twenties, Malherbe saw perhaps his greatest success in the 1930s, after he began to be represented by the famed gallery Durand-Ruel. During this period his artworks were exhibited throughout France, and he saw particular recognition at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. On the back of his achievements, in 1939 Malherbe emigrated to the United States where he exhibited in New York and Washington.
In 1948, Malherbe returned to France in order to live a quieter life of retirement. He passed away peacefully in 1955. Today, his works are shown in a range of collections, most notably the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris.
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