1933

Composition

French, 1904 - 1987

The arrangement of shapes in Composition highlights the intrinsic qualities of its abstract components: what is central and what is peripheral, what is left and right and upper and lower, what is relatively broad and narrow, and what is colorful versus without color. The cropping of elements at the four edges of the canvas emphasizes the shape and proportion of the picture field as an expressive element. Jean Hélion established himself in 1930 as a painter of flat, rectilinear abstract compositions. This work illustrates the shift he took a few years later to incorporate curves and slanted forms set against a ground without internal boundaries.