Leopold Survage

New York, Greer Gallery, Survage, April 22-May 16, 1970

Greer Gallery, Survage, New York, 1970
Jeanine Warnod, Survage, Paris, 1983, p. 80, illustrated

It seems more than likely that this picture has never been cleaned, damage or restored since it was painted. It has never been removed from its original stretcher. The paint layer is stable for the most part. Very slight dents are visible in the lower left corner and there is a slight waviness to some areas of the paint layer, yet it does not seem that the paint layer is in unstable. The surface is slightly dirty and there is a couple of small white chips of paint missing above the signature in the lower right corner. Overall however, the condition is wonderful and unusual for a picture of this size and period. The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Leopold Survage began his formal studies at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. By 1906 he was closely tied to Russian avant-garde circles, and he worked with such prominent figures as David Burliuk and Natalia Goncharova. He contributed to Zolotoe Runo (Golden Fleece), an innovative journal dedicated to Russian Symbolism and vanguard art which also emphasized international, and particularly French, modernist influences. The journal's heightened focus on international art contributed to Survage's decision to travel to Western Europe, and in 1909 he settled in Paris, where he set out to create an original style that would at once embrace and challenge the avant-garde tendencies of his time.

Survage's early repertoire featured a fusion of Surrealism and Cubism; he strove to unify simplicity and complexity in his canvases. Using symbolic and repeated elements (man, leaf, house, sea, etc.) against the structural backdrop of a chaotic urban scene, Survage achieved a dream-like, other-wordly feel. He combined Surrealist elements with Cubist ones, challenging traditional space and depth while creating gracefully abstracted images. Most important was his use of line—Survage would sculpt, bend and break contours in order to divide his compositions into rhythmic planes, and he would manipulate and reject traditional notions of space to create the perception of an alternate, metaphysical world. He stated, "The adaptation of the concept of space to the material means at our disposal in painting, those means being the plane—surface and the coloring-matter, has always been the fundamental problem of painting, and will be one of the characteristics of a style, whatever that style may be" (Jeanine Warnon, Survage, p. 90).

Les Vendeuses de Poisson (La Dispute) was painted in 1927, as Survage was just beginning to move away from Cubism in favor of his own neo-classical technique. The canvas depicts two women in the frontal plane. One holds a fish (a symbol for Christ), the other a bread basket, and together they represent a clear Biblical allusion to the fish and bread that Jesus fed to the multitude. Fish and bread were recurring symbols in Survage's oeuvre from this period. The subject matter reflects Survage's focus on neo-classical themes, while the depiction of the women through graceful yet powerful contours underscores his clean design. Unlike the Surrealist-inspired canvases of his earlier work, which featured jumbled explosions of color, light, and texture, the present picture underscores monumental simplicity. "This woman with a basket, that woman with fish or that portrait among the work of Survage attests to a mastery of design, and a vigor in modeling that seems to contradict or counterbalance the experiences of the reformer and of the innovator of the past" (Greer Gallery, Survage, New York, 1970).

The present lot retains some Cubist elements, most notably in the artist's manipulation of dimension. The women at the foreground are disproportionate—bold contours outline their figures and emphasize their two-dimensional presence as the central focus of the composition. As the eye drifts beyond the women to the minimalistic street in the background, a contrast is immediately evident: whereas the women are painted with dynamic arcs, the street creates a plane that is angular and rigid, static and unchanging. This contrast creates a dramatic effect, distinguishing the animated forms of the women with a sense of vivacity against the severe and inorganic setting. Furthermore, though Survage's earlier paintings featured extremely vibrant pigment, Les Vendeuses de Poisson (La Dispute) features neutral, realistic and earthy tones, reminiscent of those in Juan Gris' monochromatic Cubist paintings. Such fusion of technique juxtaposed with thematic subject goes to underscore Survage's quest to create a metaphysical, upside-down, inside-out world—based in reality yet evoking the fantastical.