Property from the Estate of MRS. GERMAIN SELIGMAN

Details

Property from the Estate of MRS. GERMAIN SELIGMAN
ROGER DE LA FRESNAYE (1885-1925)
La porte-plume
signed and dated bottom right R de la Fresnaye Avril 18--watercolor, gouache, pen, brush and black ink, with traces of pencil on paper laid down on board
6 1/8 x 7¾in. (15.5 x 19.7cm.)
Painted in April, 1918

Provenance

Georges de Miré, Versailles
Germain Seligman, New York (by descent to the late owner)

Literature

G. Seligman, Roger de la Fresnaye with a catalogue raisonné, London, 1969, no. 283 (illustrated, p. 193)

Exhibited

New York, Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., Roger de la Fresnaye, Nov., 1947, no. 8

Lot Essay

The flattened spacial conception of this composition is similar to those still-lives La Fresnaye painted just before the First World War, and reflect the process of simplification and idealization of forms occuring in Synthetic Cubism during the war years. These tendencies laid the groundwork for classicizing trends seen in the work of La Fresnaye and other French artists after 1918.