Robert HUMBLOT (1907-1962) Lot n° 68

LES AMIES DE PENSION, 1959 Oil on canvas Signed and dated at the bottom left Humblot 59 175 x 142 cm Bibliography Monograph by Lydia Harambourg and Brigitte Humblot published in 2016. In 1935, Robert Humblot founded the "Forces Nouvelles" group with Rohner, Jannot, Lasne, Pellan, Tal-Coat, joined by the critic Henri Hérault, affirming the urgent need to return to the conscientious drawing and craft of tradition. The first exhibition took place in April of the same year at the Billiet-Vorms Gallery, rue La Boétie. The birth of "Forces Nouvelles" coincides with the discovery of 17th century painters of Reality, during the 1934 exhibition at the Musée de l'Orangerie. Now legendary, this exhibition aimed to promote the deep values and national genius through French painting of the Grand Siècle with the brothers Le Nain, Baugin and the French caravaggesques: Valentin, Tournier, Philippe de Champaigne and the reintroduction of Georges de La Tour. It influenced Robert Humblot and his classmates, especially since this generation wanted to free itself from the impressionist heritage while remaining adepts of the realistic representation of nature, without adhering to the overflow of the time between the revolutions of cubism and those of abstraction. The political events of the time did not remain without effect on their art, notably the Spanish War which inspired Humblot to paint two works in 1936: "The Dead Child" (Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris) and "The Red Minotaur". At the 1937 Universal Exhibition in Paris, they discovered "Guernica", one of Picasso's symbolic works. They lived through the post-war period and the explosion of the modern art market of the 1950s while remaining faithful to their figurative lineage, followed by a cohort of discerning collectors. Robert Humblot develops a powerful painting, constructed and applied, with firm and encircled lines inside which he disperses