Léonce Rosenberg, Paris
Maurice Sternberg Galleries, Chicago
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, May 14, 1998, lot 182
Acquired at the above sale

Bulletin de l'Effort Moderne, Paris, December 1927, no. 40, illustrated n.p.
Denise Bazetoux, Georges Valmier, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1993, no. 44, illustrated pp. 16 & 50

The canvas is not lined but it is backed with a second canvas and the edges are reinforced with tape. There are some minor dimples at the upper corners. Under UV light: a few pindot retouches at the center of the top edge to address prior frame abrasion. There are also scattered pin dots along the left half of the bottom edge and a few other pin dot retouches in the brown pigment just to the left of the signature. There is also one nail head sized retouch at the center of the lower left quadrant. The surfice is beautifully preserved and overall the work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Following the conclusion of World War I, Georges Valmier emerged as one of the leading painters of the Cubist style. The small, delicate collages which garnered him attention in 1916 were markedly different from the works of more established Cubists like Picasso, Braque and Gris, their distinction perhaps most clearly demonstrated through Valmier's ebullient use of color. Rather than employing the muted, neutral palette favored by the pre-war Cubists, Valmier embraced bold, vibrant hues in his paintings as a means of expression. "With the current plastic expressions," Valmier wrote, "color takes on its true meaning, its own life. Color is the substance which is destined to express the intellect" (quoted in Denise Bazetoux, op. cit., p. 20). 

The artist would become quite prolific in later life, but his works from the years just after the war are rare examples of his revolutionary style. Painted in 1920, Le Piano combines the polychromatic harmony and masterful synthetism of the artist's strongest works. He employs a brilliant confluence of different patterns and textures, including passage referencing the early Cubism of Picasso and Braque and stippling borrowed from the Neo-Impressionists, to create an entirely unique idiomatic expression. Le Piano is emblematic of both the artist's ideology and the movement🔯 of Cubism 𓄧in its entirety.