FRANTIŠEK FOLTÝN | Composition

Pierre Demarne (1924 - 1999. Demarne was a French surrealist painter, poet and art critic, who worked with André Breton. He exhibited at all the Surrealist art exhibitions between 1947 and 1951)
Sale: Briest Scp., Paris, 16 April 1992, lot 22
Purchased at the above sale; thence by descent

Paris, Galerie Quatre Chemins, 1930

František Foltýn. 1891 - 1971, Košice - Paříž - Brno, ed. Moravian Gallery, Brno, 2007, p. 207 (illustrated on the cover of the 1930 invitation to the Galerie Quatre Chemins exhibition opening)

The canvas has not been lined and is safely attached to what appears to be a wooden stretcher of the time. Some scattered lines of craquelure are visible, notably in the thick white pigments in the centre of the composition. However, these appear to be stable. Inspection under ultra-violet light reveals some scattered spots of retouching, notably: - one 3 by 10cm L-shaped stroke of retouching possibly addressing an old tear in the upper left quadrant (also patched on the reverse); - three small areas in the background in the right hand side of the composition (two of which also patched on the reverse); - and other small areas of retouching in and around the black, circular shapes towards the centre of the composition, possibly addressing paint flaking. It should be noted the aforementioned retouchings are not distracting to the naked eye and do not affect the appearance of this work. This work is ready to hang. Presented in a black and silver wooden frame.
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Painted in 1927 the present work it is an important early abstract work by Frantisek Foltýn. Foltýn had settled in Paris in 1924 and became a pupil of Frantisek Kupka until 1926. Initially a cubist painter, under the influence of Kupka Foltýn gradually developed his own ideas of biomorphic abstraction. Here, sharp lines and irregular shapes evocative of organic forms are superimposed and interconnected with each other. Whilst the composition might appear originated by chance, there is an intrinsic connection between every single element in it, aiming at a balance in rhythm, colour and shapes. Foltýn’s abstract pictures were first exhibited at the end of 1927 in the Au Sacré du Printemps gallery, a meeting place for artists supported by Michel Seuphor and Paul Dermée, patrons of abstract art. Out of these meetings was born the Cercle et Carré movement, uniting artists whose principal interest was geometric abstraction.   

Dated 1927 P/12 it appears that Composition was painted at the time of the 1927 exhibition. It is telling that Foltýn selected the work as the cover of the invitation to his next major exhibition at Galerie Quatre Chemins in 1930. By this time he had become well established in the Parisian art scene. The foreword to the exhibition catalogue was written by the renowned art critic Jean Cassou, and soon after Foltýn took part in the first and only international exhibition of Cercle et Carré at Gallery 23 in Paris alongside figures such as Wassily Kandinsky, Hans Arp and Amédée Ozenfant.

Foltýn became a crucial member of Cercle et Carré and was a key figure in championing abstract art in the Czech Republic upon his return to his home country in the mid 1930s.