Lot Essay
This painting is an outstanding example of one of the key compositions from the middle of Lger's career. He painted two variations of this composition in 1936 and seven in 1937; and its fundamental contrast of biomorphic and anthropomorphic shapes was a major concern of the painter in a number of his most important projects of the 1930s, including La baigneuse of 1931 (Bauquier, no. 762; Private collection), Composition aux deux perroquets of 1935-1939 (Bauquier, no. 881; Muse National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris), and Adam et Eve of 1935-1939 (Bauquier, no. 880; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf). The contrast of the human and the bioplasmic first appears in Lger's work in Femme et fleur of 1926 (Bauquier, no. 445; Private Collection), but it does not become a predominant theme until the 1930s, with La baigneuse. The present work belongs to Lger's most abstract series founded on this contrast, and it anticipates the artist's development over the next decade. As Peter de Francia has commented:
"For Lger 1937 was an extraordinarily prolific year... He was beginning to paint in a way that was to continue till the mid-1940s: wide, part-landscape paintings in which heavy polychromed elements appear to float free, intertwined with tree roots and wispy tendrils." (P. de Francia, op. cit., p. 187)
The evolution of the present painting's composition can be plotted over the course of many projects, beginning with Femme et fleur in 1926. The next step was Composition aux deux profils, no. 1 in 1933 (Bauquier, no. 832; Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire), in which one finds for the first time the contrast of a pair of simply rendered heads and a large biomorphic shape with radiating arms. His fascination with the composition intensified in 1937, a highly productive year in which he made seven variations of the painting. The present painting--and the other versions from that year--have an unprecedented complexity of form, exuberance of movement and brilliance of color.
"For Lger 1937 was an extraordinarily prolific year... He was beginning to paint in a way that was to continue till the mid-1940s: wide, part-landscape paintings in which heavy polychromed elements appear to float free, intertwined with tree roots and wispy tendrils." (P. de Francia, op. cit., p. 187)
The evolution of the present painting's composition can be plotted over the course of many projects, beginning with Femme et fleur in 1926. The next step was Composition aux deux profils, no. 1 in 1933 (Bauquier, no. 832; Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire), in which one finds for the first time the contrast of a pair of simply rendered heads and a large biomorphic shape with radiating arms. His fascination with the composition intensified in 1937, a highly productive year in which he made seven variations of the painting. The present painting--and the other versions from that year--have an unprecedented complexity of form, exuberance of movement and brilliance of color.