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Face and Figure in European Art, 1928–1945
Garen Gallery
Following the ascent of abstraction in the early twentieth century, international Surrealist and Expressionist tendencies brought renewed attention to the human condition on personal, social, and existential levels. The period between the two world wars is notable for a resurgence of figurative painting and sculpture in a wide variety of styles. In conjunction with the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum’s exhibition of still lifes by Georges Braque from 1928 to 1945, this selection of paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the Museum’s permanent collection and the Saint Louis Art Museum offers a corollary probing of the meaning of the human face and figure by artists from France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe who were working in the same period. Among the artists represented are Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Max Beckmann, Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Wyndham Lewis, Georges Rouault, and Henry Moore. A sizable group of rarely seen sculptures will join well-known paintings to offer the most complete view yet offered to the public of the Museum’s collection in this period.
Face and Figure in European Art, 1928-1945 is curated by John Klein, associate professor in the Department of Art History & Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis.
Selected works
![1999_01.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_1990_1999/1999_01.tif.jpg)
Joan Miró
Plate 6 from Série noire et rouge (Black and Red Series)
1938![4422.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4422.tif.jpg)
Wyndham Lewis
Portrait of Mrs. Ernest W. Stix
1944![4356.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4356.jpg)
Jacob Epstein
Portrait of Pola Givenchy
1937![4355.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4355.tif.jpg)
Jacob Epstein
Portrait of Hans Kindler
1930![1984_8_2.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_1980_1989/1984_8_2.jpg)
Jacob Epstein
Old Pinager
1923![4309.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4309.jpg)
Charles Despiau
Odette
1934![4052.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4052.tif.jpg)
Marie Laurencin
Portrait of a Little Girl (Little Girl with a Dog)
c. 1940–56![4440_I.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_I.tif.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Self Portrait, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![3965.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3965.jpg)
Georges Rouault
Juggler, from Cirque
1930![3964.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3964.jpg)
Georges Rouault
Clown and Dwarf, from Cirque
1930![4440_XII.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_XII.tif.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Circus, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![3798.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3798.jpg)
Aristide Maillol
Standing Nude (Female)
1935![4377.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4377.jpg)
Georg Kolbe
Allegro
1929![4059.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4059.jpg)
Jacob Epstein
Reclining Female Nude
1943![3786.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3786.tif.jpg)
Max Ernst
L’oeil du silence (The Eye of Silence)
1943–44![4130.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4130.tif.jpg)
Joan Miró
Peinture (Painting)
1925![3794.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3794.tif.jpg)
André Racz
Perseus Beheading Medusa, VIII
1945![3771.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3771.tif.jpg)
Henry Moore
Reclining Figure
1933![3835.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3835.tif.jpg)
Jacques Lipchitz
The Joy of Orpheus I
1945![1977_2_12L.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_1977_1979/1977_2_12L.tif.jpg)
Stanley William Hayter
Palimpsest
1946![3792.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3792.tif.jpg)
Stanley William Hayter
Amazon
1945![4440_X.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_X.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Dream of War, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4551.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4551.tif.jpg)
Paul Klee
Frägt Sich
1934![3942.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3942.tif.jpg)
Pablo Picasso
Tête de femme (Head of a Woman)
1944![3845.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3845.jpg)
Pablo Picasso
Satyr's Head
1949![4185.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4185.tif.jpg)
Fernand Léger
Les belles cyclistes (The Women Cyclists)
1944![3784.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3784.tif.jpg)
Fernand Léger
Les grands plongeurs (The Divers)
1941![3943.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3943.jpg)
Henri Laurens
Femme drapée debout (Standing Draped Woman)
c. 1927–29![3910.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3910.tif.jpg)
Paul Klee
Zage beieinander (Timid Ones Together)
1932![4440_VII.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_VII.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Dancing Couple, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![1980_6_2.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_1980_1989/1980_6_2.jpg)
Aristide Maillol
Crouching Nude with Crab
1900–4, cast c. 1930![4042.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4042.jpg)
Giacomo Manzù
Little Girl Jumping
1941![1983_4_9.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_1980_1989/1983_4_9.jpg)
Georg Kolbe
Kniende (Kneeling Figure)
1928![3789.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3789.tif.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Les artistes mit Gemüse (Artists with Vegetable)
1943![4128.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4128.jpg)
Pablo Picasso
Femmes entre elles avec voyeur sculpté. Clin d'oeil au Bain Turc (Women amongst Themselves with Sculpted Voyeur. Wink at the Turkish Bath)
1934![3796.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3796.tif.jpg)
Pablo Picasso
Le combat dans l’arène (Combat in the Arena)
1937![3785.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3785.tif.jpg)
Eugene Berman
Le bon samaritain (The Good Samaritan)
1930![3963.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/3963.jpg)
Georges Rouault
L'automne (Autumn)
1936![4440_XIV.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_XIV.jpg)
Max Beckmann
The Fall of Man, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_XV.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_XV.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Christ and Pilate, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_II.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_II.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Weather-vane, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_IV.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_IV.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Tango, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_V.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_V.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Crawling Woman, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_VI.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_VI.tif.jpg)
Max Beckmann
I Don't Want to Eat My Soup, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_VIII.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_VIII.tif.jpg)
Max Beckmann
King and Demagogue, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_XI.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_XI.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Morning, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![4440_XIII.jpg](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_0_4571/4440_XIII.jpg)
Max Beckmann
Magic Mirror, from the portfolio Day and Dream
1946![1999_02.tif](https://kemper.qi-cms.com/website/media/w800/permanent_1990_1999/1999_02.tif.jpg)
Joan Miró
Plate 8 from Série noire et rouge (Black and Red Series)
1938Support
Support for this exhibition is provided by James M. Kemper, Jr., the David Woods Kemper Memorial Foundation, the Hortense Lewin Art Fund, and members of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.