Jean HÉLION 1904-1987
Nu accoudé (Leaning nude), 1946
Oil on canvas
50 x 65 cm – 19.68 x 25.59 in.
With frame:
63 x 78 cm – 24.8 x 30.7 in.
With frame:
63 x 78 cm – 24.8 x 30.7 in.
Signed, dated lower right and on the reverse
Painted in 1946, Nu accoudé (Leaning Nude) belongs to the period when Hélion, having returned from the war and settled in New York, reaffirmed figuration after his years devoted to...
Painted in 1946, Nu accoudé (Leaning Nude) belongs to the period when Hélion, having returned from the war and settled in New York, reaffirmed figuration after his years devoted to abstraction.
He depicted his wife Pegeen Vail (daughter of Peggy Guggenheim) in a moment of silent withdrawal, almost meditative.
The body is revealed without artifice, far from any academic motif. It is structured by firm lines and flat areas of color… a whole compositional language inherited from abstraction that Hélion transposed into figuration and the real world.
