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Composition
Jean Hélion
European Art
This canvas dates from around the time that Jean Hélion, a leading proponent of abstraction in the 1930s, began to coalesce his arrangements of colored shapes and gradated volumes into more explicitly figurative representations. Composition evokes some of the subjects that would soon preoccupy him: bust-length, suited men wearing brimmed hats, viewed from the front, back, or in profile. Hélion said of his figural and abstract pictorial modes: “They are the same thing, or nearly. Planes, volumes, spaces. Strong colors, fine tones, the rhythms of all nature. You can even, if you like, mix my figures and my abstractions
MEDIUM
Oil on masonite
DATES
1939
DIMENSIONS
15 x 11 in. (38.1 x 27.9 cm) (show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS
Verso: "HAUT/Hélion/17 Jan. 39/(Va)"
COLLECTIONS
European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
1991.283.2
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Lucile E. Selz
PROVENANCE
Before 1991, provenance not yet documented; before December 1991, acquired by Lucile E. Selz of New York, NY; December 13, 1991, gift of Lucile E. Selz to the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Jean Hélion (Couterne, France, 1904 – 1987, Paris, France). Composition, 1939. Oil on masonite, 15 x 11 in. (38.1 x 27.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Lucile E. Selz, 1991.283.2. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.283.2_PS9.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 1991.283.2_PS9.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
© artist or artist's estate
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