Beggars / Bettler
LOEVENSTEIN, Fedor (1901-1947)

FEDOR LOEVENSTEIN LOWENSTEIN 1901-1947
(Czech / French)

Title: Beggars / Bettler, early 1920’s

Technique: Original Hand Signed, Inscribed, Dedicated and Titled Woodcut on thin wove paper

Paper Size: 28.5 x 20.5 cm / 11.3 x 8 in

Plate Size: 15 x 10 cm / 5.9 x 3.9 in

Additional Information: This work is hand signed and dated in pencil by the artist “F. Loevenstein 22” at the lower right margin.
It is also tilted “Bettler” (Beggars) and inscribed “Handabzug” (Hand printed) in pencil at the lower left margins.
It is dedicated “pour ma chere et jamais ce debacle, Fedor, Zoppot Sommer 22” (for my dear never this debacle [sic], Fedor, Sopot (Poland) Summer (19)22.)
This work was hand printed by the artist himself in the early 1920’s in a small edition.

Originally from Czechoslovakia, Fédor Löwenstein (Munich, 1901 – Nice, 1946) studied art in Germany before moving to Paris in 1923, attracted by its artistic influence. There he mixed with the painter André Lhote from Bordeaux and joined the Groupe des Surindépendants in 1936.
His style evolved from Cubism to a form of Romantic abstraction. In 1938, he painted La Chute (The Fall), inspired by the signing of the Munich Agreement ratifying the dismantling of the Czechoslovakia created in 1918. France’s entry into the war drove him to leave the capital for Mirmande, a ruined village in the Drôme region, where Lhote held a summer academy. Löwenstein then divided his time between Mirmande and Nice where his mother and sister lived, but had to take refuge for a time in the Abbey of Aiguebelle. He fell ill in the autumn of 1943 and went to Paris to see a doctor; he died in Nice in 1946.

Exhibited: Fédor Lowenstein (1901-1946): Three Martyr Works, Musée des Beaux-Arts, DRAC Aquitaine and the Centre Pompidou at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Bordeaux, May 15 – August 24, 2014.

Condition: Good condition. Time staining and handling creases. Some folds along margins. Tiny tear along left margin (0.5 cm).