1918, the year Juan Gris created the work Composition, marked the artist's transition to a new aesthetic dominated by classic lines and refined chromatic relationships. He was very affected by the end of World War I and began to experiment with new formats and styles.
Juan Gris was born in Madrid in 1887 and arrived in France in September 1906. He was immediately introduced to the artistic environment of Montmartre, where he met Picasso, Guillaime Apollinaire, Max Jacob and other artists who gravitated around the most important artistic circle in Europe. The following year, in 1907, the retrospective dedicated to Paul Cézanne at the Grand Palais had an important impact on the artist.
That same year, Braque painted Le Grand Nu and Picasso made Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, artworks that stylistically cemented the beginning of Cubism. Deeply influenced by Cézanne's voluminous approach and the new Cubist style, Gris began his career as a Cubist painter in 1911 and participated in the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne.
Composition' is an emblematic work placed in the post-war production.
Gris, while following the development of his Cubist companions, developed his own personal vision of the movement, with a different language compared to their own. Juan Gris' Cubism is in fact called 'synthetic', different from the 'analytical' one already affirmed by other painters. His synthetic style was distinguished by a composite of organised forms, tied to a diagonal axis, which creates an almost crystalline structure.
Composition will be presented by Wannenes on 9 July at the Italian house's Modern & Contemporary Art sale. The emblematic work is squarely placed in the production of the first post-war period. During those years of conflict Gris, who had fallen into an anxious and depressive state, took refuge in Switzerland with his partner Josette Herpin. After returning to Madrid, he devoted himself again to his art, abandoning the collages he had worked on a few years earlier. His paintings open up to a more poetic spirit, which draws parallels with the work of Giorgio De Chirico. Gris died at the age of 40, in 1927, from kidney failure.
In addition to Composition, over 100 prestigious lots will be on offer, among which the works of Giorgio De Chirico, Antonio Sant'Elia, Leoncillo, Giacomo Balla and many others.
Of museum quality is Project for a monumental building (1914) by Antonio Sant'Elia. The mixed technique on paper represents one of the great architectural projects by a leading exponent of Italian Futurism.
Also beautiful is this sculpture by Leonardi Leoncillo. The polychrome glazed terracotta, signed under the base, was made between 1952 and 1953.
There are also works by many major international artists in the catalogue, including Paul Klee, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Alexander Calder.
