Buffle macédonien, Salonique, 1917
Oil on cardboard, signed lower left, located and dated « Salonique 17 » on the back
33.50 x 55 cm
History:
Jouve was mobilized in the very first days of August 1914 and left for the northern front. The colonel who commanded the brigade asked to see his work and talked to General Quinquandon, who in turn wanted to see it. The latter then allows him to move around and draw freely by linking him directly to his sector. This meeting is of particular importance since it is at the basis of the evolution of Jouve's position in the army. On 15 October 1915, Paul Jouve's regiment left to join the Eastern Army in Salonika, the artist was assigned to the army's photographic service and was thus able to draw and paint. He is particularly interested in these caparison buffaloes, so characteristic of the region. In May 1916, he was commissioned by the general staff to organize the Salon de l'Armée d'Orient.
The Eastern Army includes many artists, writers and scientists, grouped in an association: the Cercle des Artistes et Curieux de l’Armée d’Orient (Circle of Artists and Curious of the Eastern Army), which publishes Revue Macédonienne, in which Jouve regularly participates by sending illustrations. In 1917, he was appointed curator of the Exposition des artistes d’Orient to be held in Athens in May 1918. He chooses and gathers the works selected for this great exhibition from Salonika. For his personal participation, Jouve will show 65 drawings and paintings in two of the exhibition rooms, which will be a notable success. He lived in Salonika until July 1917, before going to Mount Athos where a special permission allowed him to stay until October in this region very marked by monastic life. He then went to Athens to supervise the exhibition before returning to Salonika until the end of the war. The artist was repatriated to Paris at the beginning of 1919.
Provenance :
Paul Jouve's collection
Purchase from the artist by the father of the current owner
Bibliography:
Félix Marcilhac, Paul Jouve peintre sculpteur animalier, Les éditions de l’Amateur, 2005, illustrated p. 236.
Exhibition history:
Paul Jouve,Galerie Haussmann, 29 rue de la Boétie, Paris, 27 January - 26 February 1920, section Orient, n°100 with the title « Buffle tournant la tête ».