Dufy

The reputation of French artist Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) still suffers from the misapprehension that he was a charming but superficial painter of revels, circuses, boats and racetracks. This comprehensive, abundantly illustrated study refutes that notion, revealing Dufy as a major innovator in many mediums. His simplified style, using pure color and light, found spontaneous expression not only in fauvist seascapes, symphonic murals, nudes, travel sketches, graphics and stage sets. Some of his memorable images appear on fabric designs and silk shawls; he achieved painterly results in tapestries; his ceramics--vases, plant containers, tiles--create a vibrant neoclassical world awash in living forms. French critic Perez-Tibi gives us a multifaceted experimenter who made no distinction between the ``fine'' and decorative arts, and who brought them closer together. (Jan.)