Leopold SURVAGE (1879-1968) Lot n° 41

Le cheval, 1933 Huile sur toile, signée et datée en bas à droite Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right 162,5 x 130 cm 64 x 51 1/8 in. Cette oeuvre est enregistrée dans les archives de Madame Anne-Marie Divieto. PROVENANCE Vente Blache, Versailles, 19 juin 1979 Collection particulière, Paris Puis par descendance EXPOSITION 1966, 6 avril-2 mai, Paris, Musée Galliera, Survage, exposition rétrospective, n°64 1969, 22 octobre-8 novembre, New York, Vestart, Survage 1879-1969, Paintings, n° 1, p. 6, repr. N&B LÉOPOLD SURVAGE Le cheval, 1933 Léopold Sturzwage, originally from Russia, arrived in Paris in 1908. He quickly became part of the lively and intoxicating Parisian art scene. He attended the academies of Matisse and Colarossi, the cubists and the neo-cubists of the Section d'Or. He took part in various avant-garde exhibitions. In 1915, he became the lover of the extravagant patron and artist, the Baroness of Oettingen. On the fringes of this artistic avant-garde and inspired by the art of Cézanne and Gauguin, he developed a personal writing style. His abstract gouaches, entitled Rythmes Colorés and exhibited for the first time in 1914, testify to his daring inventiveness: "coloured rhythm (...) is an autonomous art form, although based on the same psychological data as music". This dynamic art determined by visual form, rhythm and colour makes the artist a precursor of cartoons. Apollinaire, a defender of modern art, praised the originality of the young Russian, even predicting an illustrious future for him. He went so far as to convince him to francize his name in Survage. From then on, the artist multiplied his participation in Parisian art fairs. He created the sets for the Russian ballets. His works are exhibited in museums and galleries in Paris (Galerie de Léonce Rosenberg "l'Effort moderne", Galerie Percier), London, Germany, Switzerland, Italy