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拍品专文
The pictures that Félix Labisse painted in Paris during the Second World War offer a distinctive commentary on daily life under the German occupation. Scholars have described the subtle references to wartime privation in the paintings of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, both of whom remained in the city for the duration of the war. Although many of the Surrealist writers stayed behind as well (some, such as Robert Desnos and Philippe Soupault, were active in the Resistance), most of the major Surrealist painters emigrated to the United States and their commentaries on war and fascism were made at a safe distance from the actual events. Labisse, however, served in the French army during the Battle of France, and after he was demobilized, returned to Paris. The danger, menace and persecution to which he responded were very real, and everywhere around him. In 1944 the Gestapo arrested Desnos, one of Labisse's best friends. Desnos was sent to Buchenwald, where he died of typhus shortly after the Allies liberated the camp.
A small number of Labisse's wartime paintings feature mantis-like insects. The praying mantis was a significant Surrealist image from the early 1930s. The Surrealists were fascinated by the insect's bizarre nuptial habits, in which the female cannibalizes the male after mating. The Surrealists anthropomorphised this phenomenon; Salvador Dalí chararacterized the mantis as "a feminine android".
The Surrealists also seized upon the idea that the shell-like exterior of an insect was emblematic of the façade of civilization, encasing soft, vulnerable internal organs that represented the individual consciousness. They admired Franz Kafka's story The Metamorphosis, written in 1915, in which the protagonist Gregor Samsa is changed overnight into a large insect and must adapt to his new physical identity while retaining his human consciousness, and attempt to deal with his family and the world around him.
In the present work the artist portrays another character turned into an insect and pokes fun at a heroic stereotype. The title refers to the medieval romances based on the exploits of the legendary Arthur, king of Britain. The insect's chitinous exterior is like a knight's armor. However, armor alone does not make a knight, and this gentleman's activity is hardly the stuff of fable and romance.
A small number of Labisse's wartime paintings feature mantis-like insects. The praying mantis was a significant Surrealist image from the early 1930s. The Surrealists were fascinated by the insect's bizarre nuptial habits, in which the female cannibalizes the male after mating. The Surrealists anthropomorphised this phenomenon; Salvador Dalí chararacterized the mantis as "a feminine android".
The Surrealists also seized upon the idea that the shell-like exterior of an insect was emblematic of the façade of civilization, encasing soft, vulnerable internal organs that represented the individual consciousness. They admired Franz Kafka's story The Metamorphosis, written in 1915, in which the protagonist Gregor Samsa is changed overnight into a large insect and must adapt to his new physical identity while retaining his human consciousness, and attempt to deal with his family and the world around him.
In the present work the artist portrays another character turned into an insect and pokes fun at a heroic stereotype. The title refers to the medieval romances based on the exploits of the legendary Arthur, king of Britain. The insect's chitinous exterior is like a knight's armor. However, armor alone does not make a knight, and this gentleman's activity is hardly the stuff of fable and romance.