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Lot 1054 PROPERTY FROM THE JOHN C. WHITEHEAD COLLECTION
Jacques Villon (1875-1963)
Chanson, les amants
Closed15 May 2015
Price Realised
USD 43,750
More Information
Specialist note
Patrick Bongers has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Chanson, les amants is a tough, muscular rendition of a composition first conceived in three dimensions by Jacques Villon's brother, Raymond Duchamp-Villon. Created in 1908 and titled Chanson, les amants, the sculpture was executed in plaster, which resides at the Centre Georges Pompidou and also in wood, housed in the The Art Institute of Chicago. It seems likely that Jacques Villon must have owned either of these versions when he created this painting. The oil is far more masculine than the naturalistic, lyrical sculpture produced by Duchamp-Villon; the tensions of the interlocking planes, the juxtapositions of shapes and the ambiguous definition of space give the painting a monumentality which is noticeably lacking in the sculpture.
The figures in the painting are perfectly balanced. It is interesting to note that Villon would frequently return to even his most successful paintings to rework them; here, for example, he has added extensive cross-hatching in pen and black ink, which he discussed in great detail with Dora Vallier in 1957. The present work was first owned by one of 20th-century art's most influential figures, Katherine S. Dreier, who bequest the painting as well as important works by Kurt Schwitters, Alexander Calder and Constantin Brancusi to The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Chanson, les amants is a tough, muscular rendition of a composition first conceived in three dimensions by Jacques Villon's brother, Raymond Duchamp-Villon. Created in 1908 and titled Chanson, les amants, the sculpture was executed in plaster, which resides at the Centre Georges Pompidou and also in wood, housed in the The Art Institute of Chicago. It seems likely that Jacques Villon must have owned either of these versions when he created this painting. The oil is far more masculine than the naturalistic, lyrical sculpture produced by Duchamp-Villon; the tensions of the interlocking planes, the juxtapositions of shapes and the ambiguous definition of space give the painting a monumentality which is noticeably lacking in the sculpture.
The figures in the painting are perfectly balanced. It is interesting to note that Villon would frequently return to even his most successful paintings to rework them; here, for example, he has added extensive cross-hatching in pen and black ink, which he discussed in great detail with Dora Vallier in 1957. The present work was first owned by one of 20th-century art's most influential figures, Katherine S. Dreier, who bequest the painting as well as important works by Kurt Schwitters, Alexander Calder and Constantin Brancusi to The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.