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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by Dominique Bermann-Martin.
In 1912, André Lhote joined the Section d’Or, a collective of painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism. Although the group would not survive for long, Lhote continued to pursue the ideas conceived at this time in his study of cubist ideas into the 1920s, of which the present work is a seminal example. It was then, after the First World War, that the artist was recognised among the important cubists of the era by the legendary dealer Léonce Rosenberg, and this led to extremely productive time for Lhote, both as artist and writer.
A contributor for over 20 years to La Nouvelle Revue Française, the journal which he co-founded in 1909, Lhote was a prominent theorist as well as a visual artist. His strong intellectualism pervades canvases of this period, and yet his focus on retaining spontaneity within the artistic process creates a dynamic of considered exploration; technical proficiency directed towards the realisation of an idea whilst still retaining the freedom to exceed preconceived intentions. This, Lhote referred to as artistic ‘sensitivity’ which he considered to be a masterful combination of these capabilities.
Nu à la théière, a significant canvas painted in 1928, displays a distinctively modern nude, confident and engaging. This subject evokes elements of other prominent and provocative muses, of its recent past; the pose of Edouard Manet’s controversial Olympia (Jamot & Wildenstein, 82; illustrated below), the short-haired, coquettish, modern aspect of Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché, (Ceroni, 198) and the environmental characteristics of Henri Matisse’s odalisques. The modern physical identity of Lhote’s sitter furthermore seeks to reinforce the new female identity of the era, a subject to equal in it’s radicality to his avant-garde approach to painting.
The simultaneous influences of fauvism and cubism appear simultaneously in this composition. Distinctively bright colour add further spatial complexity to the dynamic lines of the existing design, with patterning in the background in sinuous curves behind the models head, echoing the elaborate fabrics of Matisse’s inspiration. The teapot to the left provides an added element, a ‘painting-within-a-painting’, referencing the original subject matter of the cubists and also a potential stand-in for the second figure in Manet’s infamous nude. This both balances the composition and adds a more intimate, bohemian sensibility to the environment, creating a visually complex, striking and sensitively orchestrated painting.
In 1912, André Lhote joined the Section d’Or, a collective of painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism. Although the group would not survive for long, Lhote continued to pursue the ideas conceived at this time in his study of cubist ideas into the 1920s, of which the present work is a seminal example. It was then, after the First World War, that the artist was recognised among the important cubists of the era by the legendary dealer Léonce Rosenberg, and this led to extremely productive time for Lhote, both as artist and writer.
A contributor for over 20 years to La Nouvelle Revue Française, the journal which he co-founded in 1909, Lhote was a prominent theorist as well as a visual artist. His strong intellectualism pervades canvases of this period, and yet his focus on retaining spontaneity within the artistic process creates a dynamic of considered exploration; technical proficiency directed towards the realisation of an idea whilst still retaining the freedom to exceed preconceived intentions. This, Lhote referred to as artistic ‘sensitivity’ which he considered to be a masterful combination of these capabilities.
Nu à la théière, a significant canvas painted in 1928, displays a distinctively modern nude, confident and engaging. This subject evokes elements of other prominent and provocative muses, of its recent past; the pose of Edouard Manet’s controversial Olympia (Jamot & Wildenstein, 82; illustrated below), the short-haired, coquettish, modern aspect of Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché, (Ceroni, 198) and the environmental characteristics of Henri Matisse’s odalisques. The modern physical identity of Lhote’s sitter furthermore seeks to reinforce the new female identity of the era, a subject to equal in it’s radicality to his avant-garde approach to painting.
The simultaneous influences of fauvism and cubism appear simultaneously in this composition. Distinctively bright colour add further spatial complexity to the dynamic lines of the existing design, with patterning in the background in sinuous curves behind the models head, echoing the elaborate fabrics of Matisse’s inspiration. The teapot to the left provides an added element, a ‘painting-within-a-painting’, referencing the original subject matter of the cubists and also a potential stand-in for the second figure in Manet’s infamous nude. This both balances the composition and adds a more intimate, bohemian sensibility to the environment, creating a visually complex, striking and sensitively orchestrated painting.