Lot 337: Francis Cordal-Cugat (Cuban/American, 1893-1981),

Francis Cordal-Cugat (Cuban/American, 1893-1981), "French Quarters", oil on canvas, signed lower left, estate stamp en verso, 16 in. x 24 1/4 in., in a period frame.

Provenance: Exhibited in The Francis Cordal-Cugat Retrospective Exhibition, McKissick Museum, The University of South Carolina, 1995. Accompanied by a copy of the Receipt Form from the McKissick Museum for loan of painting. Note: Born in Spain, Francis Coradal-Cugat moved to Havana, Cuba at the turn of the century. After studying in Paris, Coradal-Cugat worked in the art department of the Vitagraph Motion Picture Studio in Brooklyn and later for Douglas Fairbanks at the United Artists Studio. Coradal-Cugat also worked as a commercial artist; his provocative design for the cover of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, is a striking example of this work. In the 1940s, Cugat traveled extensively throughout the South Pacific, Mexico, and the Panama Canal Zone. The charming painting "French Quarters" depicts a picturesque historic street with several dry docked rowboats in the foreground. A 1942 reviewer in Art Digest wrote, "Coradal-Cugat's international character is reflected in his canvases...he uses color with relish....Cugat's compositions have...strong rhythms and daring balances", all of which can be noted in the painting illustrated here. Cugat's brother Xavier was the celebrated Latin bandleader who led the resident orchestra at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the 1940s. Reference: Hennig, Erica C., Francis Coradal-Cugat, exhibition catalogue, McKissick Museum, South Carolina, May-August 1995.