Roger de la Fresnaye (1885-1925)

La conquête de l'air

Details

Roger de la Fresnaye (1885-1925)
La conquête de l'air
watercolor and pencil on paper
24 7/8 x 18 7/8 in. (63.2 x 48 cm.)
Executed in 1913

Provenance

Henry Kapferer, Paris.
Private collection, Paris (by 1976).
Private collection, Paris (by descent from the above); sale, Sotheby's, London, 25 June 2002, lot 272.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature

R. Allard, Roger de la Fresnaye, Paris, 1922, p. 45 (illustrated). R. Cogniat and W. George, Oeuvre complète de Roger de la Fresnaye, Paris, 1949 (illustrated in color).
G. Seligman, Roger de la Fresnaye, With a Catalogue Raisonné, London, 1969, p. 155, no. 134 (illustrated; with incorrect dimensions).

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Levesque, Peintures, dessins, aquarelles de Roger de la Fresnaye, April-May 1914, (possibly) no. 69.
Paris, Galerie de Berri, Quelques oeuvres de Roger de la Fresnaye, October-November 1946, no. 27.
Paris, Maison de la Pensée Française, Roger de la Fresnaye, July-October 1950, no. 100.
Paris, Galerie de l'Institut, Roger de la Fresnaye, November-December 1962, no. 17.
St. Tropez, Musée de l'Annonciade, Roger de la Fresnaye, June-September 1983.
Le Mans, Musée de Tessé and Barcelona, Museu Picasso, Roger de la Fresnaye, Cubisme et tradition, November 2005-February 2006, p. 92, no. 73 (illustrated).

Sale Room Notice

Please note the amended dimensions for this work:
24 7/8 x 18 7/8 in. (63.2 x 48 cm.)

Brought to you by

David Kleiweg de Zwaan

dkleiweg@christies.com Tel: + 1 212 636 2093

Lot Essay

The present watercolor is a study for the monumental oil painted in 1913, now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (fig. 1). This key work is part of a small group of figure compositions that la Fresnaye executed between 1912 and 1914, just before World War I. Together with Le quatorze juillet, La conquête de l'air is considered to form "a complete expression of the talent and the intent of the artist" (G. Seligman, op. cit.., p. 48).

(fig. 1) Roger de La Fresnaye, La conquête de l'airi 1913. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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