The Checkers Game By Laszlo Barta (1902–1961)

Oil on canvas measuring 50 cm x 63 cm, plus frame 62 cm x 75 cm
Signed lower right: L BARTA, dated 1934
This painting depicts a couple playing checkers
The artist isis depicted in a mirror in the upper right corner
This artist evolved from Fauvist Expressionism toward abstraction via Cubism
Very good condition
Born in 1902 in Hungary, Laszlo BARTA attended the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts, where he received an award in 1925. He left his country very soon afterward due to his political beliefs and his membership in the Jewish community.
After arriving in France in 1926, he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne from 1927 through 1938, as well as at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1927 and 1928.
During World War II, he took refuge in Saint-Florent, Corsica, where he joined the Resistance under the alias “Brutus.” He was arrested and imprisoned in Italy in 1943. At the end of the war in 1948, he was naturalized as a French citizen for his acts of resistance.
Having arrived in Saint-Tropez in 1930, he married a young woman from Toulon in 1947, and they turned their home into a sort of communal living space.
A much-loved figure in the village, he was close friends with Robert Baudinière.
Mosaic became his primary medium of expression beginning in the 1950s. He received several commissions for schools in Paris and Saint-Lô, as well as for the National Museum of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in Salisbury. He collaborated with Raymond SUBE on the design of furniture.
His early paintings, which were figurative and reminiscent of the Fauves, were heavily inspired by the landscapes of Saint-Tropez; however, his encounter with Albert GLEIZES definitively steered him toward an artistic style closer to Cubism and abstraction. 
He died in 1961 in Saint-Tropez, where he was buried.
An exhibition was held in Saint-Tropez in 2022, where he was honored.
A large painting has just sold in Budapest for over 20,000 euros
The Galerie Guardia in Le Castellet specializes in his work and has a permanent collection of his pieces on display
Sold with a certificate of authenticity
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