Léonce Rosenberg (Galerie L'Effort Moderne), Paris
Galerie Heyraud-Bresson, Paris
Collection Nobili, Paris
Sale: Me Lombrail, Einghien-les-Bains, November 24, 1985, lot 102
Galerie Gianna Sistu, Paris
Acquired from the above

Paris, Galerie Heyraud-Bresson, Georges Valmier, Peintures et gouaches, 1980, n.n.

Art et Industrie, December 1930, illustrated in a photograph of Léonce Rosenberg's dining room
Georges Pillement, "G. Valmier, Peintre et Décorateur" in Art et Décoration, vol. II, Paris, 1930, no. 58, pp. 91-96
Édouard Joseph, Dictionnaire Biographique des Artistes Contemporains, 1910-1930, vol. III, Paris, 1934, p. 373
Denise Bazetoux, Georges Valmier, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1993, no. 703, illustrated pp. 22 & 193

This painting is unlined. The tacking edges have been reinforced to allow for proper stretching. The retouches that are added are confined to the large area of black paint in the upper center where the paint layer in the center has developed slight thinness and is retouched. A few cracks in the black lines have also been retouched. The cracking throughout the picture is stable and the condition is extremely good overall. The above condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
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.

When Valmier painted this picture, he was under contract with the famous dealer Léonce Rosenberg, whose gallery L'Effort Moderne was a lively cultural center where works were exhibited "for the promotion of Cubism." Following the artist's first one-man show at Rosenberg's gallery in 1921, a contemporary critic made the following remarks about Valmier's innovative style: "Valmier perceives Cubism as the foundation of a new art, refined and stripped of the anecdote that the subject constitutes, and which, by its abstraction, becomes universal language" (Denise Bazetoux, Georges Valmier, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1993, p. 25).

Georges Pillement, a collector of Valmier's works, wrote: "The goal of the artist is not only to distract our eyes by spots of color and harmoniously arranged lines. He tries to express, behind the reality that we see, another reality, a surreality. He lets us penetrate into the domain of the invisible. His art is more an art of intuition than one of constructive intelligence, it is an art of mysticism that tries, behind human appearances, to probe the divine background whose molecules are scattered in us... He succeeded in giving his works such dynamism that they seem to be continually in movement, that the lines and the forms that we perceive continue to modify themselves following the laws of constant change which govern all beings and all of nature" (Denise Bazetoux, op. cit., pp. 29-30).

This canvas was commissioned directly by Léonce Rosenberg as part of a triptych that decoratedဣ his dining room on rue de Longchamp (for other works from this series see figs 1 & 🔯3).