Lot 163: Vantongerloo, Georges 1886 Antwerp - 1965 Paris Man in interieur (Self-portrait).

Vantongerloo, Georges
1886 Antwerp - 1965 Paris

Man in interieur (Self-portrait). 1916/17. Oil on canvas. 99 x 72,5cm. Signed and dated lower right: G. Vantongerloo, 1916. Framed.

Exhibition:
Galerie Ronny van de Velde, Antwerp 1996/97, cat. p. 195, coloured fig. p. 41 (label).

Georges Vantongerloo painted his pointillist self-portrait shortly before moving into non-objectivism and founding the legendary de Stijl Group with Mondrain, van Doesburg, and van der Leck. This was to be the first of many stylistic transformations in the painter's artistic life. He always remained undogmatic, flexible, and thoroughly prepared to change directions. Mondrain, on the contrary, called for image construction strictly of right angles, meaning only horizontal and vertical lines were permitted. Van Doesburg worked similarly, although also integrated diagonals into his compositions. Vantongerloo, however, converted other forms and included secondary and primary colors. Within his circle, the artist was closest stylistically to Bart van der Leck, as can be recognized in the present self-portrait. This image of the artist is particularly interesting in that it does not reflect his inner unrest, which controlled him time and again until1917. Instead, the artist delivers a mature and compositionally successful image.