Henri Hayden 1883-1970

Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London
Selected Artists Galleries Inc., New York
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 29 June 1988, lot 164
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 29 June 1997, lot 276
Acquired at the above sale by the previous owner

The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed Pierre Célice.

Henri Hayden reached Paris in 1907, leaving behind in his native Poland an engineering career abandoned for art. Working alone - as was his nature - he rapidly assimilated the newest trends, especially cubism; by 1916 he had formed close friendships with Gris, Lipchitz and Picasso, and was exhibiting some of the most forward-looking cubist paintings in Paris including The Three Musicians from 1919, one of the masterpieces of Cubism and now in the Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris. But, already in the early 1920s he felt he had fully explored cubism, and rather than repeat himself he began to experiment with other styles.
Hayden evaded the Nazis during the Occupation by moving to the South of France (staying part of the time with Samuel Beckett), but on his return to his Paris studio, he discovered it had been overrun and his early paintings looted. He continued to paint landscapes, nudes and still-lifes, and remained popular, enjoying recognition in his final years with major museum retrospectives.