André Lhote (1885 - 1962) — Academic Nude, Seated Model In The Studio

Academic nude, model seated in the studio
Pencil on paper, signed lower right.
36.30 x 24.70 cm

Provenance:
André Lhote Collection
Simone Lhote Collection
Private collection, Paris

Certificate of authenticity issued by Dominique Bermann Martin.

Painting Modernity: The Vision of André Lhote 

André Lhote was born into a modest family in Bordeaux in 1885. As a young man, he joined a cabinetmaking workshop where he learned ornamental wood carving, and then began taking courses at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in his hometown. In 1905, he decided to devote himself to painting and left the sculpture workshop, despite his parents' advice to the contrary. He was introduced to the work of Gauguin and Cézanne, who seemed to him to be a revelation of modernity in painting. He met Jacques Rivière (1886-1925), future director of La Nouvelle Revue Française, who became a close friend.
From 1907, Lhote was admitted to the Salon d'Automne, which he attended every year. He also exhibited at the Cercle de l'Art Moderne in Le Havre from 1909, and the following year the Druet gallery gave him his first private show. Around 1912, his research, inspired in particular by primitive art and Romanesque frescoes, led to the development of a new formal approach: cubism, which he appropriated in a rather personal way. He exhibited in Stockholm in 1913, then at the Galerie Vildrac in the spring of the following year.
From 1917, Lhote taught painting at the Atelier Libre, boulevard du Montparnasse, and joined the Synthetic Cubism group. Between 1918 and 1921, he also taught at the Atelier d'Études, boulevard Raspail, the Académie Moderne, rue Notre-Dame des Champs and the Académie Montparnasse. At the end of the First World War, he began his activities as an art critic, notably with the Nouvelle Revue Française (the painter was a member of the “Jeune peinture française” group), and took a stand in his writings and lectures on polemical issues concerning modern painting. In 1921, Lhote exhibited at the Rosenberg Gallery.
In 1925, he opened the André Lhote Academy on rue d'Odessa, in the Montparnasse district, which welcomed students from all over the world, including Tamara de Lempicka and Hans Hartung... He taught there until the end of his life.Lhote discovers the village of Mirmande in the Drôme and sets about reviving it. He set up his summer academy there, attracting painters and lovers of old stones.
For the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts etTechniques, Lhote composed two large panels for the Palais de la Découverte: Le Gaz and Les Dérivés de la houille. The following year, he discovered the village of Gordes, where he bought a house. It was here that he welcomed Chagall, among others, during the war. After the Second World War, he settled partly in La Cadière d'Azur. He traveled to Egypt,Brazil... In the1950s, he created a large-scale decoration for the Bordeaux medical school, published several essays and was awarded the Grand Prix National des Arts.
Numerous retrospectives were devoted to him, including by the Musée National d'Art Moderne.
The artist died in January 1962.

Discover more works by this artist on the gallery's website: https://www.galeriepentcheff.fr/fr/peintre-andre-lhote#Oeuvres