λ Charles Camoin (French 1879-1965) Port de Saint Tropez Oil on canvas Signed lower right 46 x 61cm (18 x 24 in.) Painted circa 1950. Provenance: From the Collection of the late Ian Mylles, East Sussex The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Madame Anne-Marie Grammont-Camoin and will included in the forthcoming Charles Camoin Catalogue raisonne currently being prepared by the Archives Camoin. Born in Marseille in 1879, Camoin studied firstly in his home city before moving to Paris in the 1890s to study under the influential and controversial Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Here he met some of the artists who would go on to define French painting in the early part of the 20th century, including Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, Henri Manguin, Andre Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck. However, it was a move to the south of France in 1900 which was instrumental in defining Camoin's artistic career. Following in the footsteps of Van Gogh and Gauguin, he painted many of the places that they had frequented and, moving to Aix-en- Provence, he met Cezanne whose influence was key in developing Camoin's colourist style. Alongside his former fellow students, Camoin became part of the group known as the 'Fauves'. Headed up by Matisse and Derain, the group prioritised the bold use of colour and line over representation in an extension of Van Gogh's painterly style of the 1880s. During this period, Camoin produced some of his most memorable work and although the Fauvist movement as such was relatively short-lived with only three exhibitions between 1905 and 1908, the principles of the group remained with Camoin for the rest of his career. The present work dates from a later period in Camoin's life but the fresh palette and importance of colour remain evident. Having settled in Paris and St. Tropez with his wife, Charlotte (Lola) Prost, the landscape and coast of the south of France remained at the centre of his artistic output. Camoin exhibited widely in France and his works are in the collections of the Musee d'Art Moderne de le Ville de Paris and the Centre Georges Pompidou as well as many regional museums.