André Lhote

Simone Lhote (the artist's wife)
Suzanne Bermann, France (by descent from the above circa 1962)
Galerie Artcurial, Paris (acquired from the above in 1981)
Acquired from the above  by the present owner circa 1981

Paris, Galerie Artcurial, André Lhote Rétrospective 1907-1962, Peintures, Acquarelles, Dessins, 1981, no. 16

This work is executed on multiple joined sheets of paper, laid down on canvas, most likely by the artist. There is a Y shaped repaired tear to the face of the woman at the right center edge and a small tear to the elbow of the woman at furthest left. There is some light creasing to the central woman's face where the sheet has been laid down somewhat unevenly. The tacking edges are covered in tape. Under UV light: there are scattered lines of retouching which address many of the paper joins, especially around the edges of the yellow area at center and above and left of the couple at center right edge.. There is a more broadly inpainted area of about 40 by 40 cms to the upper left corner. The lower 10 cm of the work shows two broad lines of retouching. Given its extremely large scale and age, this work remains in fairly good overall condition. Colour: Fairly accurate to the catalogue illustration though the work is warmer in person.
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The present work is a tremendously vibrant celebration of modern life. Its monumental scale nods to the academic tradition of history painting, but its execution, colour and subject make it a masterpiece of modernism. What is immediately striking is its dynamism: there is no one particular focal point and the viewer's eye is bombarded with visual stimuli. The work depicts a lively port scene, and in the foreground we are introduced to some of the town's more colourful characters. In the great modern tradition of Édouard Manet's Olympia (1863) and Pablo Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), we are confronted with the unflinching faces of prostitution. Indeed the women's faces in the present work bear a striking resemblance to the primitive, mask-like faces of Picasso's masterpiece, and the jarring form of the central figure's raised arms represents another motif that unifies the two works. The present work is an important example of Lhote's desire to capture a true portrait of contemporary France: the industrial revolution and all the enormous social changes that came in the wake of this new urban lifestyle.   

Quite apart from being an amusing social commentary on contemporary life, the work's fragmented aesthetic make it an important example of Cubism. Forms are flattened and piled up on top of each other so that the background of boats and masts looms over the foreground and adds to the work's dramatic tension. In fact the dynamism, and the way in which the viewer's eye is whisked around the composition by the signposts of stretched out legs and flailing arms, invite comparison with some Futurist works, namely the series of dance paintings by Gino Severini. The references to the art historical narrative are numerous, and looking back a bit further, one cannot help but see the present work – with the forceful stance of the woman in pink, breast bursting from her corset and framed by the French flag – as a farcical, modern interpretation of Delacroix's 1830 masterpiece Liberty leading the people.