.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming Lhote catalogue raisonné being prepared by Dominique Bermann Martin.
In 1912, André Lhote joined the Section d’Or, a collective of painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism. Although the group would not survive for long, Lhote continued to pursue the ideas conceived at this time in his study of cubist themes into the 1920s. It was then, after the First World War, that the artist was recognized among the important cubists of the era by the influential dealer Léonce Rosenberg, and this led to an extremely productive time for Lhote, both as artist and writer.
The present work, a significant canvas painted in 1932, displays a modern celebratory street scene. La fête à Neuilly, also called La fête à Neu-Neu, was an annual summer festival held in this a western suburb of Paris since 1815 under Napoleon I. The present work is a brightly-colored and large-scale composition which depicts this festival. The painting is a celebration of modern life and reflects Lhote's goal to connect modern art with the great traditions of French painting. Lhote created a very similar work on paper of the same subject, likely a study for this oil painting (fig. 1).
(fig. 1) André Lhote, Neuilly, la fête à Neuneu, oil on paper. Sold, Christie’s, London, 5 February 2008, lot 293.
In 1912, André Lhote joined the Section d’Or, a collective of painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism. Although the group would not survive for long, Lhote continued to pursue the ideas conceived at this time in his study of cubist themes into the 1920s. It was then, after the First World War, that the artist was recognized among the important cubists of the era by the influential dealer Léonce Rosenberg, and this led to an extremely productive time for Lhote, both as artist and writer.
The present work, a significant canvas painted in 1932, displays a modern celebratory street scene. La fête à Neuilly, also called La fête à Neu-Neu, was an annual summer festival held in this a western suburb of Paris since 1815 under Napoleon I. The present work is a brightly-colored and large-scale composition which depicts this festival. The painting is a celebration of modern life and reflects Lhote's goal to connect modern art with the great traditions of French painting. Lhote created a very similar work on paper of the same subject, likely a study for this oil painting (fig. 1).
(fig. 1) André Lhote, Neuilly, la fête à Neuneu, oil on paper. Sold, Christie’s, London, 5 February 2008, lot 293.