Frantisek Kupka Lot n° 29

Frantisek Kupka Compliments (Study related to Amorpha, Warm Chromatics) Around 1911/12 Pastel on light grey handmade paper 25 x 21 cm Framed under glass. Signed 'Kupka' in pencil lower right. - On the reverse of the frame paper with gallery and exhibition stickers. Provenance Saidenberg Gallery, New York (with adhesive paper label on the reverse); Private collection, USA; Kunsthaus Lempertz, Auction Moderne Kunst 859, Cologne, 5 June 2004, lot 814; Private property, Rhineland Exhibitions New York 1962 (Saidenberg Gallery); New York 1975 (Salomon R. Guggenheim Museum), Frantisek Kupka 1871-1957 - A Retrospective, cat. No. 85 (with exhibition labels on the reverse); Zurich 1976 (Kunsthaus), Frank Kupka, cat. No. 85 ("Study in Relation to Amorphous Color Scales"). In his search for the spiritual, Frantisek Kupka's compositions of rhythmic forms and colors occupy a significant position in the avant-gardes of the early 20th century. As a kaleidoscope of changing light effects, color forms and spaces, his compositions of these years strive for nothing less than the representation of an invisible cosmic order. After an early body of work that was initially figurative, the year 1911 represents the central turning point in his artistic career towards the abstract: "Since Kupka saw man as a microcosm of a higher order whose essence reflected those grander rhythms, his transition from the depiction of the human to the cosmic dimension was logical and attributable to his faith. 1911 was the year of his transition from concrete to abstract representation, from the particular to the universal, from the world of phenomena to the noumental idea." (Margit Rowell, Frantisek Kupka A Metaphysics of Abstraction, in: Aust. Cat. Frank Kupka, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York/Kunsthaus Zürich 19175/1976, p. 47). Our pastel is a beguiling representative of these years central to the artist's oeuvre and has been prominently exhibited on many occasions.