Jean Souverbie - Mother And Child In A Window Frame - Oil On Canvas

Influenced by Picasso and Braque, Souverbie fully embraced the Cubist movement. This drawing is a good illustration of the method of deconstructing objects into simple geometric shapes. The artist, however, strives to always maintain a certain readability and clarity in his compositions, rejecting the temptation of pure abstraction, and preferring to organize the elements into a recognizable structure while fragmenting the objects. As a sick child, Jean Souverbie discovered Rembrandt and the visual arts as a palliative. "At the beginning of the 20th century, his parents moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye for the winter and the rest of the year to the Côte d'Azur. At the Palace of Versailles and its park, he discovered the harmony, proportions, and aesthetics of classicist art. In 1908, Maurice Denis, another painter from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, discovered a self-portrait of Souverbie and encouraged him to pursue his vocation as an artist. In 1911, the family moved to Paris, rue d'Amsterdam. Souverbie entered the Académie Julian in the studio of Jean-Paul Laurens. There, in 1913, he met Roger Chastel, who would become a lifelong friend. Due to his weak constitution, Jean Souverbie was discharged from the army when the First World War broke out. In 1916, he enrolled at the Académie Ranson where he met the Nabis: Maurice Denis, Paul Sérusier, Édouard Vuillard, and Félix Vallotton. There, he met his friend Jean-Eugène Bersier, a painter and engraver, and art historian, to whom he dedicated an oil on panel around 1930, entitled Still Life with Pear and Sugar Bowl. There, he found something to satisfy his taste for grand theatrical compositions and his taste for the antique. Married in 1920, his wife would become his favorite model, as well as the mother of their five children. Jean Souverbie underwent an operation that finally freed him from his illness and began a life of unbridled activity. He then turned to Cubism. He lived in Saint-Germain in the former mansion of the Duchess of Longwy, where he organized exhibitions. He was a great admirer, among others, of his friend Pablo Picasso, to whom the style of his nudes is similar. Around the 1930s, he devoted himself mainly to monumental art and presented all of his works at the Venice Biennale. He worked as a set designer for Jacques Rouché, director of the Paris Opera. In 1945, a monumental art studio was created especially for him at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was professor emeritus. His works can be found in numerous museums: Germany: Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie. United States: Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art. France: Autun, Rolin Museum: Beauvais, Oise Departmental Museum; Caen, Museum of Fine Arts; Grenoble, Grenoble Museum. Paris: School of Fine Arts of Paris. Petit Palais. National Museum of Modern Art: Museum of Decorative Arts: United Kingdom; Leeds, Leeds Art Gallery (en).