František Kupka

Docteur Pavel Hess, Marienbad
Collection particulière, Paris

Executed on laid paper, not laid down, taped to the mount on four places along the upper and lower edge. There is a repaired tear along the lower edge with four small repaired losses and one pinhole on the centre of lower edge. All four edges had been reinforced with restorer's paper and the sheet is slightly undulating. Subject to the foregoing, it is our opinion that this work appears to be in a very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

signed twice 'Kupka' (lower right); charcoal and gouache on paper. Executed circa 1902.

"Par une sombre route déserte,
Hantée de mauvais anges seuls,
Où une idole, nommée NUIT,
Sur un trône noir debout règne,
Je ne suis arrivé en ces terres-ci que nouvellement,
D’une extrême et vague Thulé –
D’un étrange et fatidique climat qui gît, sublime,
Hors de l’ESPACE, hors du TEMPS."

  

"By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule –
From a wild clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of SPACE, out of TIME."

Edgar Allan Poe

 

L’intérêt de Frantisek Kupka pour l’occultisme commence dès son jeune âge en Bohême. Il est initié au spiritisme lors de son premier apprentissage chez un maître sellier. Après ses études à l’académie des Beaux-Arts de Prague puis celle de Vienne, le jeune peintre choisit de se rendre à Paris. Il arrive en 1896, très au fait  des différentes tendances occultistes alors en pleine effervescence. Ce n'est n’est donc pas un hasard si L’Idole Noire s’inspire du  poème Dream-Land d’Egard Allan Poe, grand maître du romantisme et apologiste des profondeurs. Dans ce texte, le biographe de Poe, Arthur Hobson Quinn, note que chaque phrase contribue à une impression unique : celle d’un voyageur errant entre la vie et la mort. C’est cette sensation que cherche à transmettre Kupka par cette œuvre saisissante. Un sphinx  inquiétant trônant sur un ténébreux Walhalla au-dessus d’une banquise acérée, dans laquelle un personnage s’est perdu. On pourrait penser à l’une des fameuses vues de Kaspar David Friedrich, à ceci près qu'elle serait le lieu d’un cauchemar. 

La fascination de Kupka pour les mondes parallèles, les mystères, est ici évidente et confirme sa parfaite connaissance du vocabulaire symboliste.  Cette large feuille noire aux rehauts de blanc dévoile les forces obscures qui circuleront à travers tout son œuvre, même dans les compositions les plus abstraites. Si Kupka est reconnu comme l'un des initiateurs de l’abstraction, grand maître de l’Orphisme, et membre fondateur la Section d’Or, ce dessin témoigne plutôt du Kupka des ténèbres, du symboliste ésotérique, qui fascinera quelques décennies plus tard les surréalistes et les courants esthétiques anti modernistes.

Kupka a réalisé quelques autres variations sur le thème de l’Idole, notamment une série d’aquatintes rehaussées (fig. 1). Il aurait même peint un tableau représentant le même sujet, aujourd’hui disparu.

Kupka’s interest in the Occult began when he was young, living in Bohemia. He was introduced to spiritualism during his first apprenticeship with a saddler. After his training at the Fine Arts academies of Prague and then Venice, the young painter chose to move to Paris. He arrived in 1896, very aware of the different Occult tendencies then in full swing. Thus, it is no coincidence if L’Idole Noire was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s Dreamland, the great master of Romanticism and apologist of the depths. In this text, Poe’s biographer, Arthur Hobson Quinn, notes that each sentence contributes to a unique impression: that of a traveler wandering between life and death. It is this feeling that Kupka sought to convey in this captivating work. A disturbing sphinx presides over a gloomy Walhalla above a field of sharp ice in which a lone figure is stranded. In this, it resembles one of Kaspar David Friedrich’s famous views, except that here it is a nightmarish landscape.

Kupka’s fascination for parallel worlds and mysteries is evident here and confirms his perfect knowledge of symbolist vocabulary. This large black page with white highlights, unveils the obscure forces that circulate throughout his work, even in the most abstract compositions. If Kupka is reputed as being one of the initiators of abstraction, a great master of Orphism, and founding member of the Section d’Or, this drawing testifies rather to his darker side, as an esoteric symbolist, who will later fascinate the Surrealists, and anti-modernist aesthetic movements.

Kupka produced several other variations on the theme of the Idole, notably a series of enhanced aquatints (fig.1). He even painted a picture representing the same subject, which no longer exists today.