Jules Matthey

JULES MATTHEY (1889-1956).
"Port".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower margin.
Measurements: 121 x 185 cm.

Port view, probably of a coastal town in the south of France, with boats docked and figures working on the dock. The contrast between the daily agitation of the workers and the stillness that emanates from the Mediterranean stamp is enriched by the exercise of a style clearly influenced by French pointillism. The author, the Swiss painter Jules Matthey, developed an oeuvre that flirted with the avant-garde that was contemporary to him in his most daring works, including this luminous painting.

In this canvas, Matthey deploys a palette of bright colors and vibrant brushstrokes to break up the light and create texture. The composition is articulated by short, dense brushstrokes that set the promenade scene against the vibrant turquoise blue of the water, evoking a sense of immediacy and movement. The coastal buildings, on the other hand, are visually constructed through pointillist touches or short segments of brushstrokes, in a technique that suggests a synthesis between chromatic fragmentation and atmospheric observation.
Jules Matthey was born in the Swiss city of Neuchâtel. He specialized in the landscape genre. His work is preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts in Geneva. He appears in the "Biografisches Lexikon der Schweizer Kunst", 1998, in "Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart", 1907, and in "Schweizerisches Künstler-Lexikon" 1905.