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1882-1960
COMPOSITION

COMPOSITION

measurements
31 7/8 by 21 1/4 in.

alternate measurements
81 by 54 cm

Painted in 1916.

Signed Herbin (lower left)

Oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Whitford & Hughes, London (1986)
Solange Landau, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner

LITERATURE

Geneviève Claisse, Herbin, Catalogue raisonné de l'~uvre peint, Paris, 1993, no. 337, illustrated p. 339 and illustrated in color p. 72

NOTE

In October 1914, Herbin was drafted into the auxiliary force of the French army. He was asked to decorate the military chapel in Mailly-en-Champagne and then to design camouflage materials for the air force, which left him time to continue in his own work.

Although the subjects of his paintings before the war were mostly landscapes and portraits, during this difficult time he turned his attentions to still life, using it as a basis for analyzing form and color. He introduced texture into his works by painting areas in thick paint and varying brushstrokes, which was used to convey a relief-like quality to the surface of the canvas, and is particularly successful in the present painting. Although Herbin's work was nearing abstraction, it remained based in reality throughout the war. In this painting, the geometric areas of color and texture are drawn together by the recognizable objects of the plant pot, the bunch of flowers and the pomegranate.