Sale: Christie's, London, May 24, 1990, lot 144
Private collection, Europe (and sold: Sotheby's, Paris, June 3, 2010, lot 79)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

The canvas is not lined. Examination under UV reveals a thin croissant shape line of retouching to the grey pigment to the lower left quadrant and a further spot of retouching towards the centre of the lower edge. There are some fine lines of craquellure in places, in particular to the thicker pigment. There is a very minor indentation to the edge of the canvas towards the upper right and upper left corners. Otherwise this work is in 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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted in 1918, Nature morte (Still Life) by Henri Hayden is part of a small group of still-life works where the Polish painter's thoughts on form and colour are brought to their highest point.  From 1922, Hayden thought, lived and painted in a cubist vein.

Hayden arrived in Paris from Warsaw in 1922 where after a degree in engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique, he studied fine arts and lived in the Latin Quarter. He assiduously visited the Louvre and found a passion for the work of Cézanne (he saw the artist's retrospective in 1908) to the point of ignoring the parallel research of his contemporaries. He later confided: "I only absorbed cubism in 1915, after having swallowed and digested all of French painting in a few years. This rapid absorption led me to a spirit of synthesis corresponding , without my knowledge, to the research of Picasso and Braque at this time." (Anisabelle Berès & Michel Arveiller Au temps des cubists 1910-1920, Paris, 2006, p.252). Adolphe Basler, a polish art critic, introduced him to the champion of Cubism, André Salmon. During the war, Hayden moved to a new studio on the boulevard Raspail not far from Picasso (who had just finished painting The Harlequin today in the collection of the MoMA), Severini and Metzinger. Despite the war, Montparnasse was in full swing and Hayden befriended Matisse, Max Jacob, Cocteau, Gris and🦩 Lipchitz. The latter recommended him to Léonce Rosenberg whose gallery L'Effort Moderne was the home of the avant-garde. Hayden's contract with Rosenberg was signed in 1916 and his works exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1918 are marked as being the property of the dealer.

Nature morte is a beautiful example of the way in which Hayden has succeeded in making the rigour of cubist grammar his own, without giving up a 🐠refinement which constitutes the painter's noble and fierce originality. In the Cubist genre par excellence of the still-life, Hayden succeeds in creating a new sensation of space through superposed lines and planes and the juxtaposition of warm and cold colours.