Auguste Herbin Lot n° 509

Composition cubiste. Gouache on paper. 1913. ca. 34,5 x 25 cm. Signed and dated lower right. "The French painter Auguste Herbin stands in the great line of those artists who moved from object communication to abstraction. In this respect he is a typical representative of the progressives in the first half of our century. But at the same time he belongs to the rather small group of those who have not simply allowed themselves to be swept along by the powerful current of general development. Herbin's passion was to critically examine positions that had been reached, to question ground that had been gained and to solve individual problems with the answers to them. Herbin is considered a geometrician. Rightly so, for it was in the purely pictorial realm of Constructivism that he made his decisive achievements. However, his handling of circles and rectangles, triangles and geometric segments did not lead him in the direction of the Russians with their undercooled, albeit visionary, mathematical-technological concepts, nor to the purist harmony principle of the Dutch style. Herbin therefore did not understand abstract painting as a 'changeover to architecture' (like Lissitzky), nor did he want his coloristic program to be reduced to the use of the three primary colors (like Mondrian). (...) Initially preoccupied with processing the experiences of van Gogh, Gauguin and Seurat, Herbin experienced a decisive reorientation for him in the famous Paris Cézanne exhibition of 1907. He discovered the laws of the image, which shortly thereafter also became the basis of Cubism. Herbin, however, only peripherally affiliated himself with the Cubists, although he was well acquainted with their protagonists and even maintained friendships with them. After all, Picasso, Braque and Gris also had their studios in the Bateau Lavoir. However, he adopted little more from their artistic intentions than the striving for the superficialization of the spatial. The elimination of color remained alien to him." (Dr. Horst Richter, in: Ausst.-Kat. Galerie Bargera, Cologne 1974, o. p.). Literature: The George Economou Collection, Municipal Gallery of Athens, Athens 2010, with col. ill. p. 213. Provenance: Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris 15.12.1991, lot 668; Christie's, Paris 12.12.2005, lot 72; private collection, Europe. Taxation: Regular Taxation (VAT).