FINAL REDUCTION
For your consideration is this very snappy contemporary oil painting on canvas called "Brooklyn Bridge at Night" by the French Post War and Contemporary artist, Dominique SFax (aka Raymond Dominique Ernandes 1920-2007). It is a wonderful interpretation of the Brooklyn Bridge and the colors are truly vibrant and captivating. It should be noted that he did at least three Brooklyn Bridge paintings using different colors for each incarnation. The dominant color of this piece is yellow/gold. This 12" x 16" unframed piece is in very fine condition.
This little piece was originally owned by Elton John and displayed in his NYC apartment. When he sold that apartment, he sold it with all the furnishings and the painting was subsequently given to one of Sir John's staff members. We had the good fortune to acquire it from him. Provenance aside; this little painting stands on its own as a fine piece of creative contemporary, abstract art. SFax's work has finally started to get the recognition it deserves, as there have been many auction sales in the United States in recent years and we believe his work will continue to rise in value.
In 2010 the Paris auction house, Chayette et Cheval wrote in their auction catalogue (roughly translated):
"...Born in Tunisia, Dominique Sfax trained at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris. In 1946 he participated in the first Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris, alongside Auguste Herbin, César Domela and Félix Del Marle. Entirely devoted to abstract art, the event wants to pay tribute to the great figures of abstraction, such as Malevitch, Mondrian, Van Doesburg, Duchamp-Villon or Delaunay. Sfax writes on this occasion: "It is a fight against everything that tends to bring us back to the common nature of yesterday, to the reality most closely everyday by the paths of the most easily perceptible seduction. [ ...] In addition the hope of touching, if not penetrating the harmony of the hidden world is our deep reason to believe in this adventurous approach. From the end of the 1940s, Sfax worked mainly as architect then designer in Italy, collaborating in particular with the Zanotta house from 1967. He did not return to live in France until 1994, settling in Nice, where he lived until his death."
