Louis Marcoussis

Studio of the artist
Private Collection, Paris
Sale: Lelièvre-Maiche-Paris, Chartres, October 24, 1999, lot 129
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Salon des Indépendants, Hommage à Marcoussis, 1954 (titled Fenêtre ouverte)
Turin, Palais Madame, Peintres d'aujourd'hui, Rétrospective Marcoussis, no. 7 (titled La Fenêtre ouverte)

Arts, April 21, 1954, no. 460, illustrated p. 6
Jean Lafranchis, Marcoussis, sa vie, son oeuvre. Catalogue complet des peintures, fixés sur verre, aquarelles, dessins, gravures, Paris, 1961, no. P.131, illustrated pp. 127 & 260

The canvas is not lined. Examination under UV light reveals seven scattered very minor spots of retouching as well as some minor hairline retouching along the left and right edges to cover old frame-rubbing. This work remains in very good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A French painter of Polish origin, Louis Marcoussis moved to Paris from Krakow in 1903 to study at the Académie Julian under Jules Lefebvre. Whilst his early paintings were heavily influenced by Impressionism, Marcoussis quickly made the acquaintance of Apollinaire, Braque and Picasso in the cafés of Montmartre and Montparnasse and from around 1911 on he became a staunch member of the Cubist movement. In 1925, he had his first solo exhibition in Paris.

Painted three years later, in 1928, the present work is testament to some of the major preoccupations of Marcoussis’ oeuvre. Having recently settled in the South of France, Marcoussis took the opportunity to explore his treatment of the still life motifs that had long held a fascination for him. Breaking with his use of more traditional, centered compositions, Intérieur au balcon exemplifies the artist’s fresh concern for larger, open compositions, offering a view to the outside world, in this case the azure of the Mediterranean sky, through the inclusion of an open window or a door left ajar; a subject that inspired many of the artist’s contemporaries, not least Picasso and Braque.

In the present work, the artist has positioned a charming still life arrangement composed of a zither, a shell and a pitcher on a pedestal table to the left of the foreground, leaving the right-hand side of the composition relatively empty; the open window revealing nothing but the balustrade of the balcony, the sky and a passing cloud. The new structure of these works reveals elements which are unique to the work of Marcoussis. Where Picasso, in his work of the same period, demonstrates a predilection for dense, centralized compositions with bright decorative ornamentation (see fig. 1), Marcoussis’ work privileges airy compositions which play on notions of space and the contrast between straight and curved lines.

The theme of the window furthermore provides a pretext by which Marcoussis can add and intensify color. The light source in the present work does not stem from this opening onto the outside world but seems paradoxically to emanate from inside of the room, and in particular the shell resting upon the table which appears to reflect and diffuse it. This artificial treatment of light, characteristic of the artist and present in many of his works, is conceived by the painter as contingent on the subject of his painting rather than reality, allowing him to structure the work itself using light and shadow and thereby creating an undeniable and mysterious poetry.