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LE CORBUSIER AND THE NAIV PAINTERS (ANDRÉ BAUCHANT, LOUIS VIVIN, LÉON GREFFE AND ADOLF DIETRICH)Le Corbusier’s enthusiasm for André Bauchant (Lots 115 and 116), a follower of the Naïve Art movement, developed in Paris in the 1920’s. Bauchant celebrated his first exhibition at the Paris Salon d’Automne in 1921, and Le Corbusier not only became aware of him there, but also became one of Bauchant’s most important collectors, and a long-standing friendship between them ensued. An article with the title ‘Bauchant-Jeune‘ was published on 17th June 1922 in L’Esprit Nouveau, a magazine founded by Le Corbusier and his artist friend Amédée Ozenfant. De Fayet wrote in his essay: „Bauchant, paysan-poète, is not burdened with aesthetic concerns; he knows no scruples and this naivety of his that dares everything succeeds excellently, executed as it is with a technical skill that is all too often lacking in artists from intellectual circles.“ (Quotation from Heidi Weber, André Bauchant; 16 Werke aus der Sammlung Le Corbusier Galerie, Zürich 1975).The first artists of the Naïve Art movement who were able to win the interest of the public were mainly French. One artist group included Bauchant and his contemporary Louis Vivin (lots 118-122). The international reputation that evolved for these naively designed paintings was based not only on Le Corbusier’s discovery in the 1920’s, but also on representatives of this style in countries such as Switzerland with Adolf Dietrich (lots 106, 124, 134 and 136), and in Belgium with Léon Greffe (lot 123). The presence of this style at an international exhibition in 1937 helped its breakthrough.Bauchant, Dietrich and Vivin together exhibited a number of their paintings at an exhibition in the Salle Royale in Paris and in the Kunsthaus Zurich with the title ‘Les Maîtres populaires de la réalité’; they also exhibited their work at the exhibition of ‘Masters of popular painting: modern primitives of Europe and America‘ in the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1938.

LE CORBUSIER (1887-1965)

Nature morte à la lanterne, 1940

Details

LE CORBUSIER (1887-1965)
Nature morte à la lanterne, 1940
oben rechts monogrammiert und datiert 'L-C. 40', rückseitig dediziert, signiert und datiert 'A Maurice de Montmollin, amicalement Le Corbusier 1946'
Öl auf Leinwand, Originalrahmen
46 x 38 cm

Provenance

Jean-Pierre de Montmollin (Werk dediziert an seinen Sohn Maurice)
Europäischer Privatbesitz

Literature

Jean Petit, Le Corbusier lui-même, Genève 1970, S. 214
Naïma Jornod/ Jean-Pierre Jornod, Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard Jeanneret). Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Bd.2, Genf 2005, Nr. 247

Special notice

On lots marked with an + in the catalogue, VAT will be charged at 7.7% on both the premium as well as the hammer price.

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Hans-Peter Keller

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Lot Essay

Le Corbusier erwähnt in einem Brief an seine Mutter vom 28. März 1941 den Verkauf des Werks an de Montmollin: "J'ai vendu un tableau à Montmollin et ça fait du bien." (zitiert aus: Naïma Jornod/ Jean-Pierre Jornod 2005)

In a letter to his mother dated 28 March 1941, Le Corbusier mentions the sale of this work to de Montmollin: "J'ai vendu un tableau à Montmollin et ça fait du bien." (quoted from: Naïma Jornod/ Jean-Pierre Jornod 2005)

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