Face and Figure in European Art, 1928–1945

January 25–April 21, 2013
Garen Gallery

Overview
Support

Overview
Support

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.

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Selected works

Support

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.

Face and Figure in European Art, 1928–1945

Selected works

Joan Miró

Plate 6 from Série noire et rouge (Black and Red Series)

Wyndham Lewis

Portrait of Mrs. Ernest W. Stix

Jacob Epstein

Portrait of Pola Givenchy

Jacob Epstein

Portrait of Hans Kindler

Jacob Epstein

Old Pinager

Charles Despiau

Odette

Marie Laurencin

Portrait of a Little Girl (Little Girl with a Dog)

Max Beckmann

Self Portrait, from the portfolio Day and Dream

Georges Rouault

Juggler, from Cirque

Georges Rouault

Clown and Dwarf, from Cirque

Max Beckmann

Circus, from the portfolio Day and Dream

Aristide Maillol

Standing Nude (Female)

Georg Kolbe

Allegro

Jacob Epstein

Reclining Female Nude

Max Ernst

L’oeil du silence (The Eye of Silence)

Joan Miró

Peinture (Painting)

André Racz

Perseus Beheading Medusa, VIII

Henry Moore

Reclining Figure

Jacques Lipchitz

The Joy of Orpheus I

Stanley William Hayter

Palimpsest

Stanley William Hayter

Amazon

Max Beckmann

Dream of War, from the portfolio Day and Dream

Paul Klee

Frägt Sich

Pablo Picasso

Tête de femme (Head of a Woman)

Pablo Picasso

Satyr's Head

Fernand Léger

Les belles cyclistes (The Women Cyclists)

Fernand Léger

Les grands plongeurs (The Divers)

Henri Laurens

Femme drapée debout (Standing Draped Woman)

Paul Klee

Zage beieinander (Timid Ones Together)

Max Beckmann

Dancing Couple, from the portfolio Day and Dream

Aristide Maillol

Crouching Nude with Crab

Giacomo Manzù

Little Girl Jumping

Georg Kolbe

Kniende (Kneeling Figure)

Max Beckmann

Les artistes mit Gemüse (Artists with Vegetable)

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)

Pablo Picasso

Le combat dans l’arène (Combat in the Arena)

Eugene Berman

Le bon samaritain (The Good Samaritan)

Georges Rouault

L'automne (Autumn)

Max Beckmann

The Fall of Man, from the portfolio Day and Dream