Giant, football-shaped heads tilt toward one another in the foreground of this colorful abstract—a study based on a late cubist work, La Têmpete, by the Moscow-trained Russian-French painter Léopold Survage (1878–1968). The seemingly random assortment of mystery items anchoring the vanishing point—a leaf, a building fragment, a pair of soaring birds—all represent surrealist leitmotifs typical of Survage’s work during the period. The multiple reference frames and disconnected mitten fingers are also seen in another painting of his from the same year, Le Soleil (1938); set in the desert, one of its heads is swapped out for a sun-bleached cow skull! (If further exploring the cited works, be warned that Survage often recycled his titles.) An unframed oil on canvas by an unknown, perhaps American, artist. Some areas of repair.

DETAILS

Artist – UNKNOWN

Period/Year – 1950s

Origin – ORIGIN

Styles/Movements – CUBISM; SURREALISM

Media – OIL

Support – CANVAS

Colors – AUBURN, SKY BLUE, SAFFRON, BOTTLE GREEN

Condition – Excellent vintage condition. May show minor signs of previous ownership and use.

Dimensions – 22 ¼" H × 18 ¼" W × 1" D