ANDRÉ LHOTE (1885-1962)

Nu baroque is an early example of André Lhote's mastery as a painter of female nudes. The imposing figure in the present composition is set against a richly worked, colourful background which the artist himself titled 'baroque', perfectly describing the intricacy of lines and planes that create the beautiful volumes of the drapery. The austere expression of the woman and her dark, blocky hair add to the cubist atmosphere of the painting, whose elongated landscape format and large scale make it all the more impressive.

Born in Bordeaux in 1885, Lhote had his first solo show in Paris in November 1910. With his works exhibited in the milieu of Cubism, he became the regular art critic for the Nouvelle Revue Française from 1919, the year Nu baroque was painted, and, in 1925, he opened his own academy to consolidate a career as an esteemed pedagogue, whose atelier instruction guided numerous artists in their early years. Initially influenced by the post-Impressionistic works of Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne, Lhote later fell into the influential Parisian Cubist Group known as the Section d'Or, which included Marcel Duchamp, Jean Metzinger, and the poet Guillaume Apollinaire.