Jean Negulesco (1900 - 1993)

Untitled , c. 1929, oil on Celotex, unsigned, 16 x 6 1/2 inches, likely exhibited at Negulesco's solo exhibition at Yorke Gallery, Washington DC, February, 1929 (see Mechlin, Leila, Notes of Art and Artists, The Sunday Star, February 10, 1929), presented in its original frame with a wide Celotex mat

$4250

Jean Negulesco was a Romanian-born American artist, illustrator, and acclaimed Hollywood film director whose diverse career spanned many fields from European modernism to twentieth-century American cinema. Although he is best remembered for directing films such as Johnny Belinda (1948), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and Three Coins in a Fountain (1954), he maintained a lifelong commitment to visual art and produced a substantial body of drawings, paintings, and prints. Born in Craiova, Romania, he studied art in Bucharest before moving to Paris in the early 1920s. In Paris, he immersed himself in the vibrant artistic circles of Montparnasse and Montmartre, becoming acquainted with leading modernist figures, including Constantin Brâncuși. Although he did not complete a formal degree at an art academy, his education was shaped by independent study and direct exposure to European avant-garde movements. Negulesco exhibited in Paris and London during the 1920s and achieved early commercial success, selling many works at his first exhibition. His early paintings reflected Post-Impressionist and Cubist influences, often depicting still lifes, Mediterranean landscapes, and urban scenes.

In 1927, he relocated to the United States with his American wife, first to New York and later to California. Soon after his arrival, Negulesco had a solo exhibition at New York's Weyhe Gallery. Two years later, Washington DC's Yorke Gallery hosted a one-man show where the present work was likely displayed. Art critic Leila Mechlin described the exhibition as running "the gamut from the so-called traditional or academic to the most extreme modern cubistic expression." With regard to Negulesco's modernist works, she noted, "At other times Mr. Negulesco lays aside fact completely and gives himself to abstract compositions. These and his paintings of a cubistic character have been given a room to themselves and wisely. Here one see compositions which abstractly set forth 'Symphony in Blue,' 'Symphony in Calm Colors,' 'Chinese Writing,' 'Flowers in Harmony' . . . These are color compositions, put together like geometric puzzles, interesting patterns and as color arrangements, but hardly intelligible without title." Another critic hailed the modernist gallery at the Yorke show as "the first entirely cubist exhibition every held in the city." "The impression produced was one of harmonious arrangement, rich color and original design," the author continued. "It is an expression of ideas expressed in form and color without any regard for representation, which makes the paintings a real expression of the feelings of the artist." Negulesco's early US shows caught the attention of major collectors, including Duncan Phillips, who purchased at least five of Negulesco's works by 1931, several of which were acquired at the Yorke Gallery exhibition and are still at The Phillips Collection. Olin Dows also acquired an abstract composition very similar to the present work in style, format, size, and material, which is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, together with several other Negulesco paintings.

After moving to California, Negulesco gradually shifted his focus toward filmmaking and largely abandoned painting, while continuing to draw throughout his life. In addition to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Phillips Collection, Negulesco's art is held by the National Gallery of Art and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, among other institutions. He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and other standard references.

(As framed)