Anne Fonjalles, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Sale: Christie's, London, April 3, 1990, lot 361
Sale: Loudmer Scp., June 16, 1990, lot 102
Private Collection, Switzerland (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 25, 1997, lot 329)
Private Collection, Europe (acquired at the above sale)

Lyon, Hommage à André Lhote, November, 1962, n.n.

Anatole Jakovsky, André Lhote, Paris, 1947, no. 26, illustrated n.p.

The work is in very good condition. Canvas is not lined, though the edges have been reinforced with tape which is slightly visible at extreme edges in current frame. Under UV light, scattered retouches visible along upper edge and lower edge towards left corner to address prior frame abrasions. There are also two nailhead sized retouches in the orange dress near lower left and one just above the head of woman in blue at lower left, as well as some tiny pindot retouches in face. Otherwise fine.
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.

A celebration of French culture conveyed through Cubist principles, 14 juliet en Avignon represents what Lhote deemed the “return to order” following the devastation of World War I. Cubism had been criticized for its overt anti-establishment aesthetic and adjacency to a Germanic conventionality which the French ultimately blamed for the War, but Lhote saw a mode through which the aesthetic could be seen in line with core Francophone values. In a letter from Lhote to the intellectual Jacques Rivière in 1913, he “sent a chart demonstrating how Cubism had resumed the most important essentials of the primitives, the Renaissance and the school of David, about which Rivière had just written in NRF. In the same letter he explained that the mistake of the Impressionists was not in attempting to fix a sensation, but it not knowing how to bring this into the tradition” (Jane Lee, ed. Malcolm Glee, Art Criticism Since 1900, London, 1993, p. 87). Lhote’s decisive belief that the artist had a moral obligation to embrace historical French culture is nowhere as outwardly asserted as in 14 juliet en Avignon. Presented with the inhabitants of a provincial French village in the midst of Independence Day celebrations in the style of Salon Cubism, we see sharp lines consistent with Medieval French architecture, further integrating notions of French historical patrimoine. One of multiple undertakings of this subject, two other versions of the present work are held in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris and the Musée des beaux-arts, Paris respectively.