Moïse Kisling (1891 - 1953)
Fleurs
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Oil on canvas
51.4 x 41.1 cm (20 ¹/₄ x 16 ¹/₈ inches)
Signed lower left, Kisling
Signed on the reverse
Executed in 1916
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Provenance
Collection of Ida Kimche, Tel Aviv
Sotheby's London, 29th June 1988
Le Houelleur Scp, 21st August 1992
Martin du Nord & de Bouvet, Paris, 13th February 1994
Private collection, Austria -
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Literature
Jean Kisling, Kisling 1891-1953, vol. II, 1982, p.190, no.1 (illustrated)
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Description
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Jean Kisling and dated 28th of November 1990. It will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné de l'Œuvre de Moise Kisling vol.4 currently being prepared by Jean Kisling and Marc Ottavi.
In this painting, Polish-French artist Moïse Kisling depicted large poppies and tulips with dark and simplified lines and with the application of strong, vibrant colours of red, green and yellow. Kisling’s still life paintings showcase his technical skills and his mastering of colour and composition. The composition in this work is taken over by the large petals of the flowers pointing in all directions, creating dynamism and movement.
This piece was executed in 1916, two years after acquiring French nationality and the same year Amedeo Modigliani painted Kisling’s famous portrait.
This original work of art by Moïse Kisling is available for immediate purchase.
Artist's Biography
Moïse Kisling was born Mojżesz Kisling in 1891 in Kraków which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków, where his teachers included Jozef Pankiewicz, a fervent admirer of Auguste Renoir and the French Impressionists who encouraged him to travel to Paris, the international centre for artistic creativity in the early 20th century.
In 1910, Kisling moved to Montmartre in Paris, and a few years later to Montparnasse where he lived for the next 27 years and became part of an émigré community which included the artists Amedeo Modigliani, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Jules Pascin, Max Jacob, André Salmon and Chaïm Soutine. Jules Pascin and later Amedeo Modigliani lived in the same building and Modigliani painted a portrait of him in 1916 (in the collection of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris).
His style used in painting landscapes is similar to that of Marc Chagall and, a master at depicting the female body, his surreal nudes and portraits earned him the widest acclaim.
At the outbreak of World War I he volunteered for service in the French Foreign Legion, and in 1915 he was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Somme, for which he was awarded French citizenship.
Kisling volunteered for army service again in 1940 during World War II, although he was 49. When the French Army was discharged at the time of the surrender to the Germans, Kisling emigrated to the United States as he rightly feared for his safety as a Jew in occupied France. He exhibited in New York and Washington. He settled in California, where he lived until 1946.
Moise Kisling returned to France after the war and defeat of Germany and died in 1953 in Sanary-sur-Mer, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France where a residential street in the town is named after him.
