Untitled, 1933

In 1912, coal miner Augustin Lesage was compelled “by powerful spirits” to paint and draw. Over the subsequent four decades, he created an astounding body of work featuring symmetrical, highly-detailed paintings that combine Ancient Egyptian motifs, architectural imagery, and mediumistic repetition. The detailed patterns in the present lot evoke an almost meditative state within the viewer and hint at Lesage’s role as a medium as well as an artist. Untitled was acquired by psychiatrist Dr. Raoul Jules Levy in the late 1930s, and remains to date in the Levy family. According to family tradition, Lesage exchanged his art as payment for treatment from Dr. Levy, and a signed photograph addressed to the doctor from the artist reveals a familiarity between the two men, which would support this supposition.