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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by Dominique Bermann-Martin.
Lhote’s formal identification with Cubism began in 1911 with his participation in the Salon d’Automne along with other innovative young artists such as Robert Delaunay, Jean Metzinger, and Fernand Léger, and was cemented in 1919 with his inclusion in the Salon de la Section d’Or. The present work, painted in the early 1920s, thus strongly reflects Lhote’s goal to connect modern art with the great traditions of French painting. Indeed, the monumental size of the present lot clearly references the Academic tradition of large-scale history paintings while both its Jazz Age subject matter, as well as formal cubist devices, make it a thoroughly modern twentieth century painting.
Interestingly, Lhote’s work differs from that of his contemporaries in his inclusion of realist elements such as stylised yet clearly delineated representations of active persons, such as the musicians and revelers in La danse au bar (Gypsy Bar). This individual style imparts a decorative and dynamic surface to his cubist works. Here Lhote has also injected his lively composition of planes and angles with unabashedly vivacious colours, further conveying the decadence and modernity of the surroundings.
Lhote’s formal identification with Cubism began in 1911 with his participation in the Salon d’Automne along with other innovative young artists such as Robert Delaunay, Jean Metzinger, and Fernand Léger, and was cemented in 1919 with his inclusion in the Salon de la Section d’Or. The present work, painted in the early 1920s, thus strongly reflects Lhote’s goal to connect modern art with the great traditions of French painting. Indeed, the monumental size of the present lot clearly references the Academic tradition of large-scale history paintings while both its Jazz Age subject matter, as well as formal cubist devices, make it a thoroughly modern twentieth century painting.
Interestingly, Lhote’s work differs from that of his contemporaries in his inclusion of realist elements such as stylised yet clearly delineated representations of active persons, such as the musicians and revelers in La danse au bar (Gypsy Bar). This individual style imparts a decorative and dynamic surface to his cubist works. Here Lhote has also injected his lively composition of planes and angles with unabashedly vivacious colours, further conveying the decadence and modernity of the surroundings.