Lot 30: Paule Vézelay (1892-1984)

Archway with flowers and leaves
signed 'P.Vezelay' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
14 x 10 in. (35.6 x 25.4 c,.)
Painted in 1929.

Aldeburgh, Peter Pears Gallery, Festival Exhibition, June 2006, no. 1.

Originally trained as an illustrator and printmaker, Vézelay visited Paris in 1920 and became intoxicated with the bohemian, avant-garde atmosphere of 1920s Paris. In 1922 she wrote in Drawing and Design, 'Outside Paris it is hardly an exaggeration to say that Modern Art is treated more harshly than the illegitimate child. In Paris, by people who should know of these things, it is regarded as likely, if wedded with sincerity, to give birth to everything of value in the art of the future' (see R. Alley, Paule Vézelay, Tate Gallery, London, 1983, p. 10). She finally moved to Paris in 1926 and immersed herself in the artistic community, changing her name from Marjorie Watson-Williams to Paule Vézelay. Here she met artists such as Picasso, Braque, Matisse, Kandinsky and André Masson whom she lived with from 1929 to 1932. During this period her work moved away from post-impressionist representation to a more organic, biomorphic style. This can be seen in the present work and the following lot. In 1934 Vézelay joined the Abstraction-Creation group and formed a lifelong friendship with Sophie Tauber-Arp and Jean Arp. Her paintings at this time became 'studies of harmony, balance, spacing and rhythmical contrast executed in clear contrasting colours or black and white' (ibid. p. 11). Grey Forms on Grey [lot 32], painted in 1935, is a superb example of Vézelay's move into Arp inspired Abstraction-Creation.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.