Jean Hélion

Sir Herbert Read, London (acquired from the artist, 1936)

Private Collection (sold: Christie's, London, June 28, 1988, lot 227)

Private Collection, Tokyo (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, London, April 4, 1990, lot 342)

Private Collection, Tokyo (acquired at the above sale)

Sale: Christie's, New York, May 8, 1991, lot 52

Acquired at the above sale

Hélion began experimenting with abstract forms in 1929, following the lead of artists such as Mondrian and the de Stijl movement. Along with Théo van Doesburg, Hélion founded the realtively short-lived revue Art Concret which later expanded and became known as Abstraction-Création  and inlcuded Arp, Gleizes, Herbin and Delaunay among others. As a tireless proponent of abstract art, Hélion travelled to London where he met Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson in 1934. Between 1935 and 1939, he also made extensive trips to the United States where he was credited with influencing Gorky, de Kooning and other abstract artists through his painting and philisophical notions of art.

The present work reflects the influence of Mondrian and de Stijl, however by 1936 Hélion had crafted his own distinct brand of abstraction, most notably through use of rounded forms and variations in color to create volume. According to the artist, ``Mondrian, whom I always admired but could not agree with, based his expressions on a reduction of means and the elimination of particularized representation. He used to say to me, `We are not of the same tradition- you are a Naturalist.' Even as early as 1935 he `accused' me of belonging to the French naturalist tradition.'' (Jean Hélion, in ``Eleven Europeans in America,'' The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, New York, 1946, vo.. XIII, nos. 4-5, p. 29) 

Fig. 1 Jean Hélion, Composition, 1936, Museum of Modern Art, New York