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Lot Essay
Following the end of the First World War in November 1918, La Fresnaye was demobilized and spent time in sanatoriums to treat his tuberculosis. In the absence of antibiotics, his disease gradually worsened and eventually claimed his life. Nevertheless, the works of La Fresnaye's final years, with their new spirit of classicism, reveal both a lively, independent spirit and an artist attuned to the trends of the day.
The artists and composers who were involved in the ballet theatre nearly all gravitated to Neo-Classicism, as Picasso had already done in the late 'teens while working with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. This interest in design and décor for dancers, as well as an interest in the baroque Italian comedia dell'arte and other historical forms of entertainment led to a new emphasis on the figure in painting. Moreover, many observers associated the catastrophic upheaval of the Great War with the mechanical dehumanization of form expressed in strict Cubism; the postwar era was ripe for a conservative reaction to the radical developments in the arts of the previous decade.
La Fresnaye's work of 1920s shows that he was able to work in a duality of styles. While many works may not be easily classified as either Cubist or Neo-Classsical, they display a synthesis of both approaches. There are Neo-Classical figure and portrait paintings; La Fresnaye was especially attracted to the expressive figures of El Greco. His portraits of peasants with their quizzical expressions and earthy manner appear to parody naïve painting. In the present work we see the continuity in La Fresnaye's style most clearly, in which he informs his interest in the figure (one of his major subjects from the beginning of his career) with lessons distilled from both Cubism and Neo-Classicism.
Overall the painting has the muted palette which one associates with Cubism. The simultaneous projection of profile and frontal views of the face also stems from Cubist practice, as do the planar elements in the face and background. La Fresnaye's late figure paintings and portraits reveal a strong element of humanism; there is gentle humor in many of these works and occasionally even caricature. A study for the present painting was included in the Helena Rubenstein sale in New York at Parke-Bernet Galleries on 28 April 1966.
As René Gaffé has discussed of La Fresnaye's work:
Si La Fresnaye a prêté une attention si particulière aux théories cubistes, c'est qu'elles étaient le reflet d'une grande pureté. Il n'a jamais accepté de mentir, de truquer, il n'a jamais usé de la facilité vers laquelle se sont laissés glisser des peintres en vogue pour plus de joliesse et plus de charme, conquérant ainsi de faciles suffrages. Il a fait sien le style de son époque, sévère pour lui-même, sévère pour son oeuvre et si l'on veut absolument mettre une étiquette sur son talent, on peut le considérer comme un cubiste évolué, un cubiste lyrique dirais-je, qui a sacrifié à la couleur pure avec austérité.
If La Fresnaye attached such particular attention to cubist theories, it is because they reflected great purity. He never accepted to lie or fiddle, and never chose the easy way towards which some trendy painters let themselves slide for more prettiness and charm, thus gathering some easy votes. He made his period's style become his own, very hard on himself, hard on his work, and if we absolutely have to label his talent, we can consider him as a progressive cubist, a lyrical cubist I would say, who sacrificed to pure color with austerity. (R. Gaffé, A la verticale: Réflexions d'un collectionneur, Brussels, 1963, p. 42)
The artists and composers who were involved in the ballet theatre nearly all gravitated to Neo-Classicism, as Picasso had already done in the late 'teens while working with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. This interest in design and décor for dancers, as well as an interest in the baroque Italian comedia dell'arte and other historical forms of entertainment led to a new emphasis on the figure in painting. Moreover, many observers associated the catastrophic upheaval of the Great War with the mechanical dehumanization of form expressed in strict Cubism; the postwar era was ripe for a conservative reaction to the radical developments in the arts of the previous decade.
La Fresnaye's work of 1920s shows that he was able to work in a duality of styles. While many works may not be easily classified as either Cubist or Neo-Classsical, they display a synthesis of both approaches. There are Neo-Classical figure and portrait paintings; La Fresnaye was especially attracted to the expressive figures of El Greco. His portraits of peasants with their quizzical expressions and earthy manner appear to parody naïve painting. In the present work we see the continuity in La Fresnaye's style most clearly, in which he informs his interest in the figure (one of his major subjects from the beginning of his career) with lessons distilled from both Cubism and Neo-Classicism.
Overall the painting has the muted palette which one associates with Cubism. The simultaneous projection of profile and frontal views of the face also stems from Cubist practice, as do the planar elements in the face and background. La Fresnaye's late figure paintings and portraits reveal a strong element of humanism; there is gentle humor in many of these works and occasionally even caricature. A study for the present painting was included in the Helena Rubenstein sale in New York at Parke-Bernet Galleries on 28 April 1966.
As René Gaffé has discussed of La Fresnaye's work:
Si La Fresnaye a prêté une attention si particulière aux théories cubistes, c'est qu'elles étaient le reflet d'une grande pureté. Il n'a jamais accepté de mentir, de truquer, il n'a jamais usé de la facilité vers laquelle se sont laissés glisser des peintres en vogue pour plus de joliesse et plus de charme, conquérant ainsi de faciles suffrages. Il a fait sien le style de son époque, sévère pour lui-même, sévère pour son oeuvre et si l'on veut absolument mettre une étiquette sur son talent, on peut le considérer comme un cubiste évolué, un cubiste lyrique dirais-je, qui a sacrifié à la couleur pure avec austérité.
If La Fresnaye attached such particular attention to cubist theories, it is because they reflected great purity. He never accepted to lie or fiddle, and never chose the easy way towards which some trendy painters let themselves slide for more prettiness and charm, thus gathering some easy votes. He made his period's style become his own, very hard on himself, hard on his work, and if we absolutely have to label his talent, we can consider him as a progressive cubist, a lyrical cubist I would say, who sacrificed to pure color with austerity. (R. Gaffé, A la verticale: Réflexions d'un collectionneur, Brussels, 1963, p. 42)