You wish to be alarmed for any new work by this artist? Please enter your email.
Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens was born in Paris in 1885. Impaired by tuberculosis when he was only 17, he is leg-amputated seven years later. First a stone cutter, he then becomes sculptor. In 1899, he studies drawing. Henry Laurens will be strongly influenced by cubism he discovers as soon as 1908 at « La Ruche ». Attracted by the Montparnasse artists group, in 1911, he starts sculpting in a...
-
read more ARTIST ALARM
Biography of Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens was born in Paris in 1885. Impaired by tuberculosis when he was only 17, he is leg-amputated seven years later. First a stone cutter, he then becomes sculptor. In 1899, he studies drawing. Henry Laurens will be strongly influenced by cubism he discovers as soon as 1908 at « La Ruche ». Attracted by the Montparnasse artists group, in 1911, he starts sculpting in a cubist way. Friend of Juan Gris, Picasso, Laurens is also extremely close to Braque (who considered Laurens as a brother). The artist who dedicates most of his work to the human face will destroy a lot of a artpieces only to leave the ones successfully accomplished. Artist recognized worlwide, his last 10 years production (« La Grande baigneuse », 1947, « L'Automne », 1948) will be bought by the most famous museums. « His way of breathing, touching, feeling, thinking becomes object, becomes sculpture » will write Giacometti. Henri Laurens died in 1954 in Paris.
Voir & découvrir
Beyond works currently in stock, it seemed to me useful to combine business with pleasure by letting you discover others works by artists in my gallery. These artworks, now sold or removed from our website, have been in our stock in the past. These pages will undoubtedly make it possible for some of you to associate an image with its title or the other way round, for others it will be a good time to discover more on such and such artist. For the sake of confidentiality – the pieces being no longer available – we won't display neither their numbering or their price. For whatever reason, make sure to visit this amazing art database with to date 6441 online works just for your pleasure! Michelle Champetier
The works presented on this page are not available anymore.
Laurens Papiers...
1955 Poster before the letter, printed in lithograph by Mourlot, for the exhibition « Laurens Papiers collés » at the Galerie Berggruen from March 11th... Without
Catalogue Berggruen...
1955 Booklet for the exhibition « Laurens Papiers collés » at the Galerie Berggruen in Paris in 1955. Foreword by Pierre Reverdy (first edition),... Without
Papiers collés
1955 Poster, printed in lithograph by Mourlot, for the exhibition of the artist in the Gallery Berggruen in Paris. Without
Exterminated
1947 Original etching, signed in pencil by the artist. Galerie Louise Leiris Ed., Paris. Völker n°15
Reclining woman...
1950 Original lithograph, signed in pencil by the artist, dry stamp of the publisher. Guilde de la gravure Ed., Switzerland. Völker n°30
Reclining woman...
1950 Original lithograph, signed in pencil, dry stamp of the publisher. Guilde de la gravure Ed., Switzerland. Völker n°30Catalogue(s) raisonné(s)
Catalogue(s) raisonné(s)
* « Das druckgraphische Œuvre », Brigitte Völker, Ed. Brusberg, Hannovre, 1985
All the "catalogues raisonnés"
Bibliographic track & more
To read from or about the artist :
* « Henri Laurens - Sculptures », Werner Hofmann et Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Ed. Arthur Niggli, Salenstein (Suisse), 1970* « Henri Laurens », collectif, catalogue d'exposition, Ulster Museum, Belfast, Ed. Arts Council, 1971
* « Henri Laurens », in Beaux Arts magazine, n°68, Paris, mai 1989
* « Cubism and its Enemies, Modern Movements and Reaction in French Art, 1916–1928 », Christopher Green, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1987
* « Henri Laurens - Opere su carta », collectif, catalogue d'exposition, Ed. Mondadori Electa, 1991
* « Henri Laurens - Rétrospective », Musée d'art moderne de Villeneuve d'Ascq, Ed. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1992
* « Cubism ». Philip Cooper, Ed. Phaidon, Londres, 1995
* « Henri Laurens - Constructions et papiers collés 1915-1919 », collectif, catalogue d'exposition, Ed. du Centre Pompidou, 1999
Website :
No website dedicated to the artist.More :
+ A tribute to...
See all the tribute pages...
A tribute to Henri Laurens
Sorry this section is only available in french for now.
Le sculpteur, peintre et dessinateur cubiste Henri Laurens est mort à Paris le 5 mai 1954, il avait 69 ans. Il repose au cimetière du Montparnasse à Paris (7ème division) . Sa tombe est décorée de l’une de ses œuvres, « La Douleur ». En son hommage, cette fleur du lantana.
"J’ai l’intention de monter une figure entière : construction d’un espace à quatre points de vue bien déterminés, c’est-à-dire que l’on puisse regarder de quatre points opposés, ce qui donne je crois pour la sculpture cubiste un maximum de champ de vision. Et situer dans cet espace de qualité des rapports de volume et de dimension de la figure." - Henri Laurens
"Laurens retrouve son métier ancien, la taille des sculpteurs des cathédrales, et allie, comme eux, la force et la délicatesse. Il y ajoute son sens affiné de la couleur - une couleur qui pour lui contribue essentiellement à délimiter et à fixer l’ombre et la lumière." - Sylvie Ramond
"A proximité de la forêt, il allait chaque matin se promener et regarder les arbres, et il essayait au retour de porter à ses sculptures les sensations qu’il avait reçues ; les membres se nouaient comme des branches, et les surfaces se modelaient comme des écorces." - Marthe Laurens
"Il est nécessaire que, dans une sculpture, les vides aient autant d’importance que les pleins. La sculpture est, avant tout, une prise de possession de l’espace, d’un espace limité par les formes." - Henri Laurens
"Quand je commence une sculpture, de ce que je veux faire, je n’ai qu’une idée vague. Avant d’être une représentation de quoi que ce soit, ma sculpture est un fait plastique, et, plus exactement, une suite d’événements plastiques, de produits de mon imagination, de réponses aux exigences de la construction... Je donne le titre à la fin." - Henri Laurens
"Peut-être sommes nous toutefois les gardiens de la vérité de la vie." - Henri Laurens
Stamp :
No stamp made.Art movements
- + MODERN SCULPTURE / 1930-1970 / William Kenneth Armiage, Constantin Brancusi, Anthony Caro, Naum Gabo, Pablo Gargallo, Isamu Noguchi, etc.
- + CUBISM / 1907-1925 / Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Charles Dufresne, Jacques Lipchitz, Jean Metzinger, etc.
- + SCHOOL OF PARIS MONTPARNASSE / 1915-1935 / Chaïm Soutine, Jacques Lipchitz, etc.
Valuation - Brokerage
If you wish to offer an artwork by this artist or get an appraisal, please feel free to contact us.
Artists on display
The art and the artists display: proclamations, galleries, museums, personal or collective exhibitions. On walls or in shop windows, wise or rebels, posters warn, argue, show. Some were specially conceived by an artist for such or such event, other, colder, have only the letter.
Some were created in lithographic technic, most are simple offset reproductions. They are many those who like collecting these rectangles of paper, monochrome or in games of colours, in matt paper or brilliant, with many words or almost dumb.
We are happy also to be able to greet, by this pages, mythical galleries as those of Denise René, Louis Carré, Claude Bernard, Berheim Jeune, Maeght, Pierre Loeb and others.
