Lot Essay
The American dealer Theodore Schempp probably acquired Composition directly from Andr Breton who knew de Stal in Paris. It is because of Schempp was an enthusiastic supporter of de Stals work and it was partly because of him that de Stal's work was so readily established to so widespread an audience.
Composition is a prime example of how de Stal refused to proclaim the originality of either the figurative or the abstract vision and indeed understood that the quality of existing mattered more than the specifics: 'I do not set up abstract painting in opposition to figurative. A painting should be both abstract and figurative: abstract to the extent that it is a flat surface, figurative to the extent that it is a representation of space.' (de Stal as quoted in Exh. cat., Nicolas de Stal in America, Washington D.C. U.S.A., 1990, p. 22)
Composition is a prime example of how de Stal refused to proclaim the originality of either the figurative or the abstract vision and indeed understood that the quality of existing mattered more than the specifics: 'I do not set up abstract painting in opposition to figurative. A painting should be both abstract and figurative: abstract to the extent that it is a flat surface, figurative to the extent that it is a representation of space.' (de Stal as quoted in Exh. cat., Nicolas de Stal in America, Washington D.C. U.S.A., 1990, p. 22)