Auguste Herbin (France 1882‑1960)

”L’homme oiseau III”

To be sold at our Important Sale: Modern & Contemporary Art + Design & Watches 12 – 14 November 2024

Lot 507 Auguste Herbin (France 1882‑1960). ”L’homme oiseau III”. Signed herbin lower left and signed and dated on the reverse and on the stretcher Herbin 1930. Oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm.

With inscription on the stretcher ”K.H.76”.

Estimate

1.000.000 – 1.500.000 SEK
€ 88.000 – 131.000

Provenance

Galerie des Etats-Unis.
S. Stoliar, Cannes, France.
A distinguished French collection.
Cornette de Saint Cyr, Maison de Ventes S.A.S, 1 July 2020, lot 111.
A Swedish private collection, acquired at the above sale.

Exhibited

Centre Culturel du Marais, Paris, 26 February-22 March 1981.

Literature

Centre Culturel du Marais, exhibition catalogue, 1981, illustrated on p. 117.
Geneviève Claisse, Herbin: catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, 1993, no. 680.

In the recently finalized retrospective exhibition on Auguste Herbin in Musée de Montmartre, Paris, the additional title was ”Le maître révélé”, i.e. The Master Revealed. There should not be any reason to reveal the mastery of Herbin, but his long absence from exhibitions made this retrospective very pertinent and helps clarify Herbin’s true stature as a Master indeed.

Herbin started as post-impressionist, played an active role in fauvism, helped to develop cubism, was an early pioneer (1917-1918) of abstraction where he developed a unique organic, curvilinear, rhythmic style in the late twenties. He also co-founded the group Abstraction-Création in 1931, and in 1940 he initiated a new style, further developed by his plastic alphabet in 1942. This final development, continued until his death, became a major influence on all the painters (Vasarely, Dewasne, Mortensen, Bærtling and others) in Denise René’s stable, and most other geometric abstractionists after the Second World War.

The mastery of Herbin was early recognized by both painters (he was accepted to travel to Céret with Picasso, Juan Gris, and Matisse as a young man in 1913), galleries (exhibitions in France, Germany, UK, and USA already 1910-19, and thereafter), and the general public. His works were collected by the main promoters of the new painting styles, like Wilhelm Uhde, Clovis Sagot, and Berthe Weill. At the forced auction of Uhde’s art collection in 1921, 73 paintings including Picasso, Braque, Léger, Rousseau, and others, only Picasso became more expensive than Herbin. 

Apart from Herbin’s obvious mastery in all various styles he worked in, his outstanding skill in handling colour must be mentioned. After the recent exhibition it seems clear that Herbin is one of France’s greatest painters during the last century and a major international star.

The present painting is based on a tragic experience at the Le Bourget air show in 1930. An acrobat walking the wings on a bi-plane crashed in front of the horrified spectators. That event led Herbin to paint a series of five abstract works, of which this one is the third, to honour the L’Homme Oiseau or Birdman. Both style and colour show the mastery of Herbin.  ■

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