Nature Morte au Siphon

Material

Oil on canvas; 91 x 99 cm

Dating

1925

About the artist

After having studied law for a short period of time, Louis Marcoussis started to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. In 1903 he moved to Paris, where he studied briefly under Jules-Jospeh Lefebvre at the Académie Julian. The French-Polish painter’s early work had been inspired by Impressionism, but suddenly in 1907 he gave up painting completely and, over the course of three years, eked out a living as caricaturist.
In 1910 he joined his avant-garde friends Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Juan Gris and became a member of the Cubist movement. In 1925 he Marcoussis held his first solo exhibition in Paris. Besides painting still-lifes and musical instruments in the Cubist manner, he also produced portraits, views of Paris and images from the Breton seaside. His later works are almost geometrical and rarely display figurative elements.