




E. Charlton Fortune(1885-1969)Wash Day at St. Tropez 30 x 40 in. framed 38 x 48 in.
Sold for US$605,175 inc. premium
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E. Charlton Fortune (1885-1969)
signed 'Charlton Fortune' (lower right)
oil on canvas
30 x 40 in.
framed 38 x 48 in.
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, United Kingdom, by family descent.
Exhibited
Paris, Grand Palais, Salon de la Société des Artistes Français, April - May 1927, probably.
Though E. Charlton Fortune is best known as one of California's leading female plein-air painters, she spent a great deal of time living and working throughout Europe in the late 1920's—first in the artist's colony of St. Ives on England's Cornish coast before travelling on to the French Riviera. The present work likely dates from the two years she spent in the South of France, when Saint-Tropez was still no more than a humble fishing village.
Fortune once described Saint-Tropez as 'alive with color and movement of flapping sails...a constant range of color in and out of the sunlight and shadow.'¹ Rather than the sails present in her harbor scenes (see Drying Sails sold at Bonhams in August 2011), Wash Day at St. Tropez incorporates air-dried laundry as a similar device to convey her fascination with the locale. Fresh linens scented with citrus and sea air stretch from one end of the work to the other. Fortune continues to play with light and shadow throughout the composition, with half the courtyard bathed in sunlight and the left side hidden away from the bright rays. In contrast to the England's overcast climate, the dazzling Mediterranean light allowed Fortune to push her experimentation with blocks of color. Throughout the work, chimney stacks cast indigo shadows on the medieval streets below.
While many other California artists of the time prioritized land, coast, and sea for their own sakes, one of Fortune's most important contributions lay in her ability to combine multiple subjects—landscape, architecture, people, and boats. Fortune expertly incorporates these elements throughout Wash Day, with the incomparable Cote 'Azur, rolling hills, and puffy clouds working in tandem alongside the cityscape to create a balanced composition. The Church of Our Lady of Assumption remains not only the main architectural landmark of the city center but the focal point of many of her works during this period, including St. Tropez (1926) from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Stanford Atwood and St. Tropez in Spring (1926) from a private collection -- the grand bell tower immutably rising above a sea of salmon-colored rooftops. Unlike the two previous examples, which are painted from an elevated perspective, Wash Day places the viewers at street level immersing them in the daily life of the seaside town.
Following her time in Saint-Tropez, Fortune returned to her native Monterey where she would ultimately go on to become a member of the newly formed Carmel Art Association. As one of the oldest operating non-profit artist cooperatives in the United States, the organization provided both Fortune and other artists a place for fellowship and community. Whether it be, Monterey, St. Ives, or Saint-Tropez, Fortune found inspiration in the architecture, landscape, and everyday life of these small coastal enclaves.
¹ Scott A. Shields, E. Charlton Fortune, The Colorful Spirit, Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2017, p. 116.