Jean Hélion Abstract composition watercolour France 1936

Jean Hélion abstract composition, watercolour and pencil sketch on paper. Signed in pencil bottom right with H. 36. Image size 29x22cm (11.4x 9.6 inches)

Excellent condition. Slightly clipped top right corner and age related toning to paper.

Provenance: from the collection of Swedish art collectors Jan and Carin Cron.

Jean Hélion (1904-87) was an important French modernist artist based in Paris in the 1920s and 30s. He was strongly influenced by both Fernand Léger and Piet Mondrian and adopted a hard edged abstract style which made use of bold colour and shapes. In 1936 he moved to the United States where he became influential on the development of abstract art, notably through his influence on George L. K. Morris. In 1940 he returned to France to fight in the French army and was captured. He managed to escape and returned to the US in 1943. He returned to France after the war and radically changed his style, focusing on figurative works of everyday life and still lifes. His latter work, rejected by many critics during his lifetime, is now starting to gain critical recognition. However, he remains best known for his abstract work from the 1930s which marks him out as one of the leading modernist artists of the Twentieth Century. His work is held in leading museums worldwide including MoMA, Tate Modern, Art Institute of Chicago, and Hamburg Kunsthalle. His archive is in the Biblioteque Nationale, Paris.