Tennis / Drawing - Lot 231

Tennis / Drawing Marcel-Louis BAUGNIET (1896–1995) The Clay Court Player, ca. 1930 Watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper 26.5 x 18 cm (gilded frame, broken glass) Marcel-Louis Baugniet was a painter, draftsman, and furniture designer. A leading figure in the Belgian avant-garde of the 1920s, closely associated with the 7 Arts group and magazine, he developed a geometric and minimalist style that he applied to painting and the decorative arts. Sports occupy a prominent place in his work. His stylized players, often faceless, convey movement through the construction of forms. Tennis inspired him on several occasions, notably in a Cubist watercolor of a tennis player that went up for auction in 2022; he also explored other sports, such as basketball in a 1950 watercolor featured in the “Art and Sport” exhibition in Mons.