Zygmunt MENKES (Lvov 1896 - New-York 1986) Place... Lot 26

Zygmunt MENKES (Lvov 1896 - New-York 1986) Place de la liberté in Toulon, circa 1927 Oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm Signed lower right "Menkes Zygmunt Menkes was born in Lwow (Poland) in 1896 and spent his childhood in an environment that he defined himself as sad. He escaped through imagination and drawing. In 1914, he began studying at the art institute in his hometown. In 1919, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and moved to Berlin three years later. Like many painters of his generation, he was attracted to Paris and finally settled there in 1923. After a year, without resources, he was forced to return to Poland. He returned later that year to Paris with the firm intention of staying. He participated in the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants from 1924 to 1927 and exhibited at the Salon des Tuileries from 1926 to 1951. Zygmunt Menkes became one of the most original and important painters of the Paris School. Every summer, the painter travels to the South of France to paint. He particularly liked the coastal towns of the Var, notably Sanary-sur-Mer, where he set up his studio, and the Toulon region. In search of new landscapes, he traveled to the coast with his easel to paint on the ground. This work, a testimony of an afternoon painted on the spot, allows us to underline the pictorial language of Zygmunt Menkes: a typical free touch, the use of brown-red colors and shades of green that suggest the heat of a summer day. A sense of deep and immediate joy is evident in this composition where proud figures pose cheerfully before the human-like statue. The city with its lively characters is a favorite subject of the artist. The branches of the palm trees and the flowerbed are painted in a subtle superimposition of glazes; the painter particularly appreciates this technique which allows him to use a wide variety of chromatic shades. The chromatic harmony and the play of superimposed glazes and touches of denser colors give the work a deep and sensitive dimension. In 1935, Zygmunt Menkes moved to New York where he participated in numerous exhibitions, gained public recognition and received awards. He exhibited in Paris, Warsaw, Lviv, Berlin, New York, Tel Aviv and Toronto. His works are in the collections of the following prestigious museums: Museum of Art; Jewish Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Art in Jerusalem, the National Museum in Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art in Lodz and the Centre Pompidou. E.V Provenance: Private collection