František FOLTÝN (1891-1976)

Composition, circa 1920. Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. 65 x 54 cm. Provenance: - Sotheby's Parke Bernet sale, February 8, 1984, Lot n° 238 - Private collection, Paris For an auctioneer or an expert to present three works by František Foltýn, one of the greatest representatives of Czech modern art between the two world wars, is a rare pleasure that cannot be denied. What's more, three works from his most sought-after period by collectors: the 1920s, when he moved to Paris... In his native Czech Republic, Foltýn painted realistic and classical style paintings, then he was attracted by the cubist avant-garde. It was in Paris, in 1923, that the painter had the "revelation" of the abstract scene. He developed his own style of abstraction, all curves and lines, which can be described as "biomorphic", that is to say, an abstraction that leaves forms open to interpretation. In this, he differs from the influence of his compatriot František Kupka, whose workshop in Puteaux he attended. Foltýn was soon recognized by his peers: he was a member of the group Cercle et Carré (founded in 1929 by Joaquín Torres García and Michel Seuphor) and the group Abstraction-Création (association formed in Paris in 1931 by Georges Vantongerloo and Auguste Herbin). This last group brings together more than four hundred international artists including Kupka, Gleizes and Mondrian! In 1934, unlike Kupka who chose France for good, Foltýn returned to Czechoslovakia, depriving himself of the opportunity of the international influence that Paris offered to all these avant-garde artists. In this second part of his career, Foltýn abandoned abstraction and returned to realistic landscape painting. But the art market and art historians seem to have decided that his abstract works are the most popular.