Andre Lhote
(1885-1962)
"La Fenetre a Meneaux," 1959
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated upper right: A.Lhote; titled on the stretcher
28.75" H x 36.25" W
Provenance: Hammer Galleries, New York, NY, 1966
Pomeroy Gallery (later Hoover Gallery), purchased from the above
Private collection, acquired from the above, 1979

Exhibited: Paris, France, Maison de la Pensee Francaise, "AndrE Lhote," 1961, No. 27
Paris, Frace, Salon d'Automne, "Hommage ? AndrE Lhote," 1963
New York, NY, Hammer Galleries, "AndrE Lhote," 1966


Other Notes: This work has been authenticated by Dominique Bermann Martin, beneficiary of the Andre Lhote Foundation.

This lot is accompanied by a gallery invoice and signed insurance statement from Hoover Gallery, 1979

A painter, sculptor, theoretician of cubism,+acclaimed critic, and art teacher are a+few of many ways to describe the prominent+French artist, Andre Lhote. Born in 1885 in Bordeaux, France, Lhote had an early introduction to his own artistic capabilities when he learned wood carving at a local carpenteris furniture studio, just at the age of thirteen.+With over a 10-year apprenticeship in decorative arts and wood carving, he enrolled in decorative sculpture courses at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in his hometown, Bordeaux, France, between 1898 and 1904. While at school, Lhote took up+painting during his spare time.

After his time at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in 1906, he moved into his own studio in Paris and committed himself fully to painting. Lhote was influenced by Paul Gauguin, Peter Paul Rubens, Paul Cezanne, Eugene Delacroix, and Fauve artists, which would guide his initial artistic style. During his first year in Paris, Lhote shortly started to submit works to various places like the eSalon diAutomnei and eSalon des Artistes Independants.i Leading, Andre Lhote to hold his first one-man exhibition at the Galerie Druet, in 1910. He then joined+the eSection diOri (eGold Sectioni) group, which was an artist, poet, and critics collective in Paris associated with Cubism and Orphism, and in 1912 alongside artists, Duchamp, Picabia, and Villon, Lhoteis paintings were exhibited in the group exhibition, Salon de la Section diOr, at the Galerie de la Boetie, from October 10-30, 1912.

Lhote was deeply enthralled with the revolutionary avant-garde style of Cubism and his work started to truly reflect the geometric shapes and planes with various perspectives to depict objects. However, Lhote had such an erudite nature, which would lead him to be equally supportive and critical of the artistic style's framework. Specifically, Lhote did not fully agree with+Analytical Cubism, his works in comparison were seen as imodernity discreeti and he came in with a more pragmatic style, and not as abstract. He did however, incorporate French Cubism into his landscape paintings and iscenes of everyday life, as opposed to the still-life or inatural-mortei on which the other members of the group concentrated their work,i (Hanina Fine Art). Andre Lhote excelled at the art of etransitioni which was the itranscription into visual media of the optical phenomena by means of which certain shapes are captured.i+Lhote+never did reach the iradical abstractioni that many other cubist artists like Picasso, Braque, and Leger were well known for. He was often seen by critics as timid, but it was Lhoteis way of visual unity through modest abstraction that made his works unique.

Lhote was not just a fantastic artist, but also an intellectual individual who had a vast amount of cultural knowledge and loved to pursue new topics in such a comprehensive manner. Lhote was importantly known for his+istrove to integrate the revolution Cubist within the academic tradition.i He co-founded the art journal eNouvelle Revue Francaise,i where he authored scholarly articles on art theory, mostly about Cubism and landscape paintings. He later taught at the eAcademie Notre-Dame des Champsi from 1918 to 1920 and taught at other Paris art schools. This would lead Andree Lhote in 1922 to open his own art academy in Montparnasse. His art academy had a theoretical approach to art and his studies would have an impression on a widespread audience and the next generation of artists. He would go on to lecture throughout France, other parts of Europe, Egypt, and Brazil. Lhote would travel around the world to deeply understand and retain its cultural and artistic knowledge. Later in life, he moved to places throughout France, specifically+Mirmande and the Gordes, where he would welcome his friends and artists like Marc Chagall, to appreciate these Provence towns. Andre Lhote painted, studied, and wrote, up until his death on January 24, 1962.+

Andre Lhote was featured and celebrated in many art spaces, like the iLe Cubisme,i exhibition at the Musee Nationale diModerne, in 1953, awarded the 1955 Grand Prix de Peinture, the UNESCO commission for Sculpture appointed Lhote as President of the International Association of Painter, Engravers, and Sculptors, and in a widely known retrospective in the 1958 Musee Nationale diArt Moderne. Lhote was a talented French artist who not only had a strong influence in the visual culture of the time but also through the information that he processed through a didactic nature. He was recognized widely as a great educator and his contribution as a theoretician of the Cubist framework. Andre Lhote is represented in various museums of modern arts including the Tate Gallery, London, England, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France, Musee diArt Moderne de la Ville, Paris, France, Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles, CA, and Museum of Modern Art, Chicago, IL.

Visual: Overall good condition.

Blacklight: A pea-sized spot of touch-up near the center of the upper edge in the light brown pigment.

Frame: 40" H x 46" W x 2" D Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.