Lot 91: Alvaro Guevara (1894-1951)

Alvaro Guevara (1894-1951)
Fleur Imaginaire II
oil on canvas
45 x 34¾ in. (114.3 x 88.3 cm.)
Painted between 1927-28.

Paris, Galerie Van Leer, Alvaro Guevara 25 Fleurs Imaginaires, November 1928, catalogue not traced.
London, Michael Parkin Gallery, Alvaro Guevara & his circle: exhibition of paintings, drawings and watercolours, March - April 1989, no. 17.

with P & D Colnaghi & Co., London.
with Arthur Lenars & Co., Paris.

'When (Aram) Mouradian returned to Paris, according to chatter at Les Deux Magots and Le Dome, it had been 'an eventful summer for everyone who was anyone'. He called in Alvaro's studio almost at once and was 'simply astounded by the pictures' which he had not seen until now. He had expected something vaguely post-impressionist, or even traditionally Spanish : he was quite unprepared for these Surrealistic experiments - twenty-four vivid paintings of uniform size, entitled Les Fleurs Imaginaires. Recovering his equilibrium, he confessed himself surprised but was bound to admit that 'they had got something yes, although quite extraordinary - they were certainly decorative and original' (see D. Holman-Hunt, Latin among Lions : Alvaro Guevara, London, 1974, p. 177).