143. Tony Minartz, Beach Scene
| Artist | Tony Minartz, French, Cannes 1870–Cannes 1944 |
| Title, Date | Beach Scene (Scène de plage), c. 1920 |
| Medium | Watercolor over graphite pencil underdrawing |
| Dimensions | 12 9/16 × 16 3/4 in. (32 × 42.5 cm) |
| Inscriptions + Marks | Stamped in black ink, lower left: DAGUERRE | Atelier T. MINARTZ |
| Provenance | Probably Atelier Tony Minartz sale, in Bijoux–Art Moderne, Daguerre and Brissonneau, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 19, 2010. [Marie Watteau, Paris, until 2011; to Weisberg]; Yvonne and Gabriel Weisberg, Minneapolis |
| Credit Line | Promised gift of Gabriel P. and Yvonne M.L. Weisberg, Minneapolis |
Tony Minartz was a prodigious chronicler of the Belle Époque, the Roaring Twenties, and the Depression-era thirties. He recorded the dance halls, cabarets, and chic nightlife of Paris and scenes along the beaches of the Côte d’Azur; he was born in Cannes and spent time there later in life. Occasionally, his work shows his acquaintance with the sweeping compositions, surprising viewpoints, delicate colors, and intimate subjects of Japanese ukiyo-e prints. Such is the case in this scene of two girls playing next to a boat on a beach.
A number of the watercolors of this self-taught artist were shown at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, where Minartz exhibited his work from 1896 to 1914. He developed a following that lapped up his many evocations of bourgeois leisure time. Boats lolling in the Mediterranean was a favorite theme.
GPW