André Lhote

Edouard des Courières (acquired directly from the artist)
Thence by descent to the present owner

The canvas is not lined. There is a thin layer of milky varnish preventing the UV light from fully penetrating. However, UV examination reveals two very faint spots of fluorescence, one to the extreme upper right corner and one to the right part of the rightmost lady's skirt. There is a tiny fleck of paint loss to the central lady's curled fringe. Some fly spots in places. This work is in very good original condition.
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This stylish work by André Lhote acts as a fascinating insight into the development of his Cubist technique. Commissioned by Edouard des Courières and hung in his house in Tangiers (fig. 1), it is a reinterpretation of a much admired work of 1912 with the same title. A comparison of the two reveals Lhote’s dramatic progression over two decades; L’Escale of 1912 seems roughly finished, with hashed brush marks and planes redolent of a primitive Cubist spirit. In contrast, the present work is highly stylised with an acutely sharpened feel and accomplished angles. Lhote has chosen to focus on the most successful part of his 1912 composition, cutting out the entire right half; the resulting focus, that of three women and a crowning French flag, makes for a much more forceful and centralised image. The central woman morphs into the two figures on her left and right, almost echoing the delicate unfolding of the fan in her left hand. This triptych of forms is further mirrored in the three colours of the French flag and the three arches of the bridge. Lhote is playing on form and colour within the different planar fields of the painting, further echoing Gino Severini’s praised Futurist dancers. Separate from Lhote’s Cubist and Futurist progression, the influence of Art Deco is very clear; a style which dominated the 1920s and 30s, and amongst much else, gave rise to the Precionism of Tamara de Lempicka’s women, whose presence reverberates around this work.

Extant correspondence reveals a close friendship between Edouard des Courières and Lhote. The two met in 1925 at an exhibition of works by Oskar Kokoschka, igniting a friendship that was to last for over 40 years. A letter of Lhote’s to Edouard from 1942 reveals a dialogue between the two regarding the possible exhibition of Lhote’s works in Casablanca and Tangiers; Lhote rather shyly asks ‘Ce doit être beau, mais peut-on peindre dehors?’ (‘It must be beautiful, but can one paint outdoors?’). Indeed, a combination of painting and nature was a central concern of Lhote’s. Such epistolary correspondence is a fitting testament to the friendship and mutual respect of the two, second only to the fact that since its inception, this painting has remained in the family of Edouard des Courières up until the present day.