Henri Epstein (1892-1944)
Title: Boat with Animals
Technique: Watercolor and gouache on paper
Dimensions with passe-partout: 19.5 × 26.5 cm
Dimensions with frame: 39 x 44.5 cm
Signature: signature p.d.: H. Epstein
Condition: very good; slight discoloration of paper, all in elegant binding
The featured work by Epstein is an extremely expressive figural scene, most likely set in the space of a stable, as suggested by the visible animal figures and the sparing but strongly emotional gestures of the figures. The composition is dynamic, almost dramatic, and the color scheme - with a predominance of green, red and black - further enhances the intensity of the message. Epstein here combines elements of expressionism and symbolism, characteristic of his later period.
Provenance: private collection, France
Henry Epstein was born in 1891 in Lodz, Poland. In 1910 he began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and from 1912 he studied in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. At first he was primarily interested in Post-Impressionism, but later entered the circle of Fauvist painters. During World War I, he volunteered for Polish military units. After the war, he stayed in the circle of Parisian avant-garde painters in Montparnasse, associated with the rotunda La Ruche. He became friends with Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutin and Marc Chagall, among others. Henry Epstein painted still lifes, nudes, figural compositions and landscapes. In France, he painted fishermen and their surroundings, ports, and still lifes depicting seafood, fish and birds. In the mid-1930s, he bought a farm near Épernon, where he often traveled. Because of his Jewish ancestry, he was arrested on February 23, 1944, and deported to the Drancy transit camp, from which his wife and daughter tried unsuccessfully to extract him. By transport No. 69 on March 7, 1944, he was taken to Auschwitz, where he died.
