Raoul Dufy (French 1877-1953) Longchamps Gouache on point paper 88 x 69cm (34½ x 27 in.) Provenance: Sale, Christie's South Kensington, Two Centuries of Design: The Bianchini Ferier Collection, 25-27 July 2001, lot 1581 The present lot originally belonged in the Bianchini-Férier collection. The silk weaving house of Bianchini-Férier was founded in Lyon on 23rd July 1888 by Francois Atuyer, Charles Bianchini and François Férier. In 1912 Bianchini gave the artist Raoul Dufy a contract to design textiles for the company, which lasted until about 1928. Dufy produced 4,000 designs for the company and was involved with the whole process of the design from the initial sketches to the chosen fabric. In 1983, Bryan Robertson wrote of Dufy 'His work as a designer of fabrics, for example, is in my view unparelleled in the twentieth-century art.' Condition Report: The work appears to have been executed on multiple conjoined sheets. The sheets are flattened but undulating and creases remain, consistent with being folded multiple times. There are a number of small tears along the folds, the most prominent being to the right of centre (approx 2cm long). A few spots of scattered surface dirt. Framed under perspex and unexamined out of frame. Condition Report Disclaimer