Lot Essay
Marthe Donas, who was also known as Tour Donas and Tour d'Onasky, was born in Antwerp in 1885. Despite initial parental reluctance she was eventually allowed to study at the Academy of Art in Antwerp from 1902 to 1905. During the First World War she fled to Holland, moved on to Dublin and settled temporarily in Paris which, for her, was the focus of all her artistic ambition.
'I travelled alone to Paris towards the end of 1916. There I rented a studio in Montparnasse. I worked for two months at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, for one month at the Académie Ranson and finally one month at the studio of the painter André Lhote.' (unpublished manuscript in Yale University Library, Dreier Bequest)
In late 1917 she travelled south to Nice where she worked in Archipenko's studio. The influence of his constructivist compositions and sculptures is obvious in the present painting. Through him, at the end of the war, she was introduced to and allied herself to the avant-garde artists of Paris. She found a new studio to rent in Montparnasse, the lease of which later passed to Mondrian. For the next ten years Tour Donas was at the forefront of the avant-garde in Europe. In 1919 she was given a review in De Stijl as Tour d'Onasky and she exhibited with Der Sturm in Berlin as well as the Section d'Or in London in 1919 and at the Salon des Indépendants in 1920 and 1923. In 1920 she returned to Belgium where she met Van Doesburg. Despite returning to her native country her contacts with Paris remained strong.
'I travelled alone to Paris towards the end of 1916. There I rented a studio in Montparnasse. I worked for two months at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, for one month at the Académie Ranson and finally one month at the studio of the painter André Lhote.' (unpublished manuscript in Yale University Library, Dreier Bequest)
In late 1917 she travelled south to Nice where she worked in Archipenko's studio. The influence of his constructivist compositions and sculptures is obvious in the present painting. Through him, at the end of the war, she was introduced to and allied herself to the avant-garde artists of Paris. She found a new studio to rent in Montparnasse, the lease of which later passed to Mondrian. For the next ten years Tour Donas was at the forefront of the avant-garde in Europe. In 1919 she was given a review in De Stijl as Tour d'Onasky and she exhibited with Der Sturm in Berlin as well as the Section d'Or in London in 1919 and at the Salon des Indépendants in 1920 and 1923. In 1920 she returned to Belgium where she met Van Doesburg. Despite returning to her native country her contacts with Paris remained strong.