Kees van Dongen - Roman met 25 originele kleuren litho's: Les Le Lepreuses - 1947 - Sold

Novel with 25 original color lithographs by Kees van Dongen, printed by Mourlot-freres, Paris. Title: Les Lepreuses. Year: 1947. Folder dimensions: H34 x W26cm. Depicted in Juffermans' Kees van Dongen, page 143, number: JB11. See picture. The book is not included.

This concerns number :154, on Vélin de Rives BFK paper. A total of 354 copies were issued on this paper (342 numbered copies and 12 Horse commerce copies). The total edition was 390 pieces.

The book comes from the estate of Helge Loewenberg Domp. There is also an ex-LIbres in the book. For further information about this lady, see: https://niw.nl/helge-loewenberg-domp-105-overleden/


Cornelis Theodorus Maria (Kees) van Dongen (Rotterdam-Delfshaven, January 26, 1877 – Monte Carlo, May 28, 1968) was a Dutch-born painter who lived in France for a large part of his life. With his work he was one of the most important Dutch representatives of Fauvism.

Van Dongen spent his childhood in Rotterdam. His drawing talent was discovered at an early age, but there was no money to let him study. He had to earn his own living from the age of fourteen. He did take evening classes at the Rotterdam "Academy of Visual Arts and Technical Sciences" - the current Willem de Kooning Academy - from 1892 to 1897, but he did not like them. In Rotterdam he moved into a room above the studio of the painter Martinus Schildt.
In 1897 he left for Paris, where he supported himself as a house painter and as an illustrator for satirical magazines. Between 1898 and 1899 he temporarily returned and settled in a studio on the Batavierenstraat in Rotterdam. After this he settled in Paris again and on 11 June 1901 Van Dongen married Augusta Preitinger, whom he still knew from the Rotterdam Academy. They had one daughter. In 1906 the young family moved to the 'Bateau-Lavoir' at 13 rue Ravignan, where they became acquainted with the circle of friends around Pablo Picasso and his then girlfriend Fernande Olivier. In 1921 Van Dongen and Preitinger divorced. In 1953 he married Marie-Claire Huguen, with whom he had one more son. Van Dongen has not lacked social appreciation: in 1926 he was awarded the French Legion of Honor and in 1927 the Belgian Order of the Crown.
In 1929, two of his works were shown in the Palais du Luxembourg. In the same year he obtained French citizenship.[1] When he died in Monte Carlo in 1968, he was 91 years old.

He began to exhibit his work in Paris, including at the controversial 1905 exhibition in the Salon d'Automne with, among others, Henri Matisse. The bright colors used by this group of artists earned them the nickname Les Fauves ('Wild Beasts'). Van Dongen was also a member of the German expressionist group Die Brücke for a short time.
Of the Fauves, Van Dongen himself, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and Albert Marquet were the leading figures. His work is characterized by primitive shapes and bright, unmixed colours.
Van Dongen is known for his many paintings of the female nude. For him, the woman was 'the most beautiful landscape': the woman was his 'muse'. Later in his career (after 1918) he concentrated mainly on painting portraits of Parisian 'society'. One of his most famous models was Brigitte Bardot. His social and commercial activities were, according to most experts, at the expense of the artistic level he had achieved in his younger years.

In February 2008, the canvas Ouled Naïl was sold for a record price of 7.5 million euros at Christie's in London.[2]
La Gitane (The Gypsy) raised more than 8 million euros on February 1, 2010 during an auction at Christie's in London.[3] Les escarpins mauves (The purple pumps) raised 2.3 million euros.