Moses Kisling (1891 Krakow - 1953 Sanary-sur-Mer), Café La Rotonde

color lithograph, paper, 41.5 × 52.5 cm in light passe-partout

signed on stone p. d.: "Kisling", l. d. oval stamp "ATELIER KISLING" with numbering in pencil: "LIX/LXX" on the back signed by Jean Kisling, 1979.

From the portfolio: Paris, Provence, Gitans

Café "La Rotonde" opened in 1911 was a "Foyer des artistes" a center for artists cared for by Victor Libion known as "Papa Libon." The walls of the café were covered with canvases by Chagall, Picasso, Modigliani and many others. "Libion forbade his waiters to persuade you to consume, so you could sit there for hours over a café-crème costing only twenty cents. [...] He sometimes employed Kisling, because of his physique, as a bodyguard. Critic Andre Salmon wrote "his customers immediately became his friends. His elegant authority worked on most difficult personalities. The café was called Montparnasse's beach because its terraces received sunlight most of the day. Pablo Picasso, Georg Braque, Juan Grisa, Louis Marcoussis (Louis Markus), Henry Hayden, Amadeo Modligliani stayed there.