Grand Electus Parrot, 1949, is among the works by Simon Bussy at Browse & Darby’s summer exhibition.
Of the birds he depicted, often returning to the same species, the toucan is a clear favourite, but in each picture he makes use of colour and draughtmanship to represent individual animals rather than to evoke a species.
Born to a family of shoemakers, Bussy became a close friend of Matisse while remaining on his own distinctive artistic path.
In the early 1900s he married Dorothy Strachey, sister of historian Lytton Strachey, whom he met through contact with the Bloomsbury group in London.
Toucan, pastel by Simon Bussy is among the works at Browse & Darby’s summer exhibition.
The couple’s home in Roquebrune-Cap- Martin in the south of France would host many associated with the artistic group including Duncan Grant, Rudyard Kipling, Roger Fry, Banessa Bell and irginia Woolf.
The show runs at the St James’s gallery from June 13-July 19, with prices ranging from £12,000-45,000.
