Mexico

1950. Painting. Oil on canvas. 28 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches. With artist made wooden frame, 29 1/2 x 24 1/4 inches. Signed lower right, signed and dated verso with title notes on the stretcher. Hotel Lutece address verso in Paris, with partial gallery label. Some abrasions upper margin, possibly, the painting was previously stretched smaller, otherwise in excellent condition.

Dynamic abstraction by now obscure artist Lee Hersch. According to Michael Seuphor, 'an intense cosmic poetry emanates ...and his canvases are imbued with an indefinable nebular fragrance, an interstellar song that exalts the imagination.' This painting was illustrated in his (truncated) exhibition catalogue 'Lee Hersch' with text by Seuphor. The artist was likely inspired by Tachisme (French mid-century abstraction) from spending time in Paris.

Lee F. Hersch (1896 - 1953) was an American artist born in Ohio and best remembered for his landscapes, paintings of Taos Pueblo, and abstractions produced later in his career. He traveled extensively, working from a studio in Paris for some years, and later dividing his time between New York and California. He had solo shows at Montross Gallery and Peggy Guggenheim's gallery in New York, and exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and the Salons of America. He died in Madrid, Spain, and the following year a retrospective of his work was held in Paris. Born in Antwerp, in 1901, Fernand Berckelaers adopted the pseudonym 'Michel Seuphor' (an anagram for 'Orpheus') in 1917. His long career as an artist, art critic, poet and writer meant that he made an important contribution to art history. He founded the Antwerp avant-garde magazine 'Het Overzicht'. This painting is a wonderful example of Hersch's work. (Inventory #: 323919)