Anto-Carte

Madame Feldheim
Collection particulière, France

Bruxelles, Société Auxiliaire des Expositions du Palais des Beaux-Arts, Anto-Carte, 1959

The canvas is not lined. There is a light horizontal stretcher mark running across the centre. There are intermittent spots of retouching located near upper right corner and near the lower part of the right edge, as well as a few very minor, pinhead-sized spots near the lower left corner and in the centre, all visible under ultra-violet light. This work is in good original condition.
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signed 'Anto-Carte' and dated '1926' (lower left), oil on canvas. Painted in 1926.

Fig. 1, Anto-Carte jouant de l'accordéon

Fig. 2, Anto-Carte, Le Cirque au village, 1925, huile sur toile


Fondateur du groupe Nervia (1928-1948) dont le but était de promouvoir le jeune art belge, Anto-Carte est de ces artistes aux multiples talents. Décorateur accompli, il pratique en maître la peinture de chevalet et la peinture murale, exécute des maquettes de décors et de costumes pour le Théâtre de la Monnaie et le Théâtre du Marais, travaille chez Cavalir-Col, pour Diaghilev et Léon Bal, s'essaie à l'art de la céramique et du vitrail...

Exécutée en 1926, trois ans après le Salon d'Automne de Paris et deux ans après l'exposition de l'Institut Carnegie où il est introduit par une lettre de la Reine Elizabeth qui vient d'acquérir Les Clowns, l'œuvre présente, Le Cirque, est exemplaire du goût de l'artiste pour le monde du spectacle. Ce motif qu'il partage avec les avant-gardes et les peintres de sa génération, Anto-Carte sait le renouveler par une mise en espace très audacieuse. Le premier plan, occupé par les figures imposantes et sculpturales des saltimbanques, ouvre sur l'espace oculaire et rayonnant de la piste où, dans un suprême exercice de stylisation, le cheval fait corps avec sa cavalière. Par son graphisme élégant et les teintes composées, l'œuvre est un exemple d'Art déco particulièrement original et réussi.

 

Founder of the Nervia group (1928-1948) whose aim was to promote young Belgian art, Anto-Carte was a man of many talents.  An accomplished decorator, he was also a master of easel painting and murals, designed stage sets and costumes for the Théâtre de la Monnaie and the Théâtre du Marais, worked for Cavalir-Col, Diaghilev and Léon Bal, and even tried his hand at ceramics and stained glass windows ...

The present work was executed in 1926, three years after the Paris Autumn Salon and two years after the exhibition at the Carnegie Institute which featured as its introduction a letter from Queen Elizabeth, who had just acquired Les Clowns.  Le Cirque is emblematic of the artist's taste for the world of entertainment.  Taking a motif that was common among the avant-gardes and other painters of his generation, Anto-Carte manages to rework the theme through an audacious spatial composition.  The foreground, occupied by the imposing, statuesque figures of the clowns, opens up onto the radiant space of the stage where, in an excellent stylistic feat, the horse and the rider form one bodily mass.  With its elegant draughtsmanship and subtle tones, this work is a particularly original and successful example of Art Déco.