Edgar Scauflaire ‘Pierrot and Columbine’ self-portrait cubist expressionist work on paper, 1947

...SOLD...

‘The painter and his muse' self-portrait, pencil drawing on paper produced in 1947 by Edgar Scauflaire in his studio painting his muse.

This work on the theme of the ‘Commedia dell'arte' is a self-portrait in which the painter represents himself, brush and palette in hand, as Pierrot (the sad clown) sketching his model Colombine in front of his easel. The nude painting he produced was cubist in style. It is a perfect synthesis of cubism, art deco style and dreamlike expressionism.

It is probably a project for a larger painting such as an oil on canvas or a mural.

Good condition, paper a little yellowed, note that there are reflections on the photos because the painting is framed under glass.
Dimensions with frame: 53 x 43cm.

Biography:

Edgar Scauflaire (Liège1893 - 1960) was a painter from Liège and also an astute art critic (pseudonym Jean Hibou).

He began his studies at the Collège Saint-Louis in Liège but did not complete them. He joined an amateur theatre company and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, where he was taught by Auguste Donnay, Adrien de Witte, François Maréchal, émile Berchmans and Ludovic Bauès. 

In his early years, and until 1925, he devoted himself mainly to drawing, combining graphite with pastel, in portraits and allegorical works, marked by the simplicity of his line and the modernity of his deliberately sophisticated compositions. From the mid-1920s onwards, he devoted himself more and more to oil painting, easel painting, but also large murals for special commissions, such as the decoration of the main hall of the Salle Philharmonique de Liège, formerly known as the Conservatoire Royal de Liège (1952-54). He also produced large-scale paintings on glass, stained glass windows, tapestry cartoons and theatre curtains. 

All his work is marked by a light, fairytale-like dreaminess inherited from Chagall, sometimes verging on the naïve, and by a harmonic balance that is always subtle. Like the painters of the Paris School, he worked a great deal on the female body, which was one of his favourite themes. He painted many portraits and family scenes, often featuring cats, as well as numerous harlequins.

Some sources attribute nearly 6,000 works to him....