Dimensions: 46 x 55 cm
signed l.d.: 'Benn'
on the reverse a paper sticker indicating the size of the Lefranc subpainting, a circular export stamp, two auction stickers and descriptions: '22' and '1960', on the frame a numbered sticker, framer's notes and a twice-repeated stamp of a Paris framing studio
Origin
Crait + Müller, Paris, April 2022
private collection, Poland
Biography
In 1926-30 he was a theater decorator. In 1927 he had his first exhibition in Bialystok, from 1928 he exhibited in Warsaw. In 1929 he received a 3-year scholarship to study in Paris, where from 1930 he attended the studio of Fernand Léger. He remained in Paris permanently, changing his citizenship to French. He contributed to the broad current of the international Ecole de Paris of the interwar period. He remained faithful to figuration with a tendency toward geometric stylization. Imprisoned with his wife in a transit camp during World War II, he avoided deportation thanks to the help of Jean Paulhen and was hidden by him until the end of the war.
