Paysage

Inscriptions: Signed (lower left)

Provenance: Léonce Rosenberg, Galerie l’Effort Moderne

Exhibitions: Modern American and European Paintings, Belmaison Galleries, John Wanamaker’s, New York, 22 November – 22 December 2021 (extended until 1 January 1922).

Literature: The International Studio, Volume LXXIV, No. 297, New York, December 1921, reproduced

Waldemar George, Jean Metzinger, L’Esprit Nouveau, No. 15, February 1922, pp. 1781-89, reproduced

Joann Moser, Daniel Robbins, Jean Metzinger in Retrospect, The University of Iowa Museum of Art, 1985, catalogue, no. 172, p. 102, reproduced

Notes: On the 1921 Belmaison Wanamaker’s exhibition, Henry McBribe writes: “Braque, Metzinger, Vlaminck, Matisse, Dufy, Marie Laurencin, and Derain remain the dominating figures, as they were before.” (Henry McBride, The Dial v.72 (LXXII), No. 1, January 1922)

This exhibition, which included works by Severini, Gris, Herbin, Modigliani, de Chirico, Lhote, Survage, and Valmier amongst others, was touted as wider in scope “than any other exhibition of modern art since the historic days of the Armory Show in 1913.” comprising over fifty oil paintings, in addition to works on paper. (Arts & decoration. v.16 1921:Nov.-1922:Apr)

The dimensions and whereabouts of Metzinger’s Paysage are unknown, but its legacy is still very much alive. It is precisely the naked significance of Metzinger’s underlying drawing—assuming he even drew one before expressing this irresistible feeling of perfection in structure—that is elaborated upon at length in the Metzinger monograph, Volume II.