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Portrait of an Old ManPortrait of an Old ManPortrait of an Old Man

FEDOR LOEVENSTEIN LOWENSTEIN 1901-1947
(Czech / French)

Title: Portrait of an Old Man, 1922

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

Paper Size: 19.2 x 14.5 cm / 7.5 x 5.7 in

Image size: 14.5 x 11.7 cm / 5.7 x 4.5 in

Additional Information: This work is hand signed and dated in pencil “Fedor Loevenstein ’22” at the lower margin
It is also tilted and inscribed in Cyrillic in pencil at the lower left margins.
There is an additional text in French at the far lower right margin.
This work as printed in 1922 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. Small tear in right margin (1 cm).