This present lot is set to be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of Albert Marquet being prepared by Jean-Claude Martinet and Guy Wildenstein under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute.
Provenance:
The Artist.
Collection of Mme. Albert Marquet, the artist's widow, Paris, France.
Sotheby's, New York, sale of October 7, 2010, lot 16.
Acquired directly from the above sale.
Exhibited:
"Albert Marquet," Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi, July 6 - September 25, 1957, no. 70.
"Marquet," Wildenstein, New York, New York, April 10 - May 17, 1985; and Wildenstein, London June 19 - July 31, 1985, n.n. (traveling exhibition; illustrated in the accompanying exhibition catalogue p. 80).
Literature:
Jean-Claude Martinet and Guy Wildenstein, Marquet, L'Afrique du Nord, Catalogue de l'Œuvre Peint, Skira / Seuil / Wildenstein Institute, Milan & Paris, 2001, no. I-394, pp. 300-301 (illustrated).
Lot Essay:
Albert Marquet first visited Algiers in the winter of 1920–21, beginning what would become a lasting and profound attachment to North Africa. Captivated by the clarity of the Mediterranean light and the play of color and shadow across the city's whitewashed buildings and harbor, he returned to Algeria almost every winter thereafter, often residing for extended periods in Algiers, Bou Saâda, and along the Kabylie coast.
In Algeria, Marquet's art attained a new luminosity and compositional balance, as seen in this work dating from his wartime exile. This bird's-eye view of Algiers' hills combines his characteristic economy of line and restrained palette with the brilliance of southern light, expressed through subtle tonal harmonies rather than vivid color, creating a harmonious haze throughout the canvas. Against the clear rosy sky, an elegant aloe tree, poised to bloom as the title suggests, adds a decorative flourish. This North African scene ranks among Marquet's most admired achievements, reflecting the assured maturity of his vision and the meditative spirit of a painter deeply attuned to place and atmosphere, even amid global turmoil.