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6 - Jean Legros (1917–1981) Triangles in Space 1977 Acrylic and …
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Estimate €300 - €500
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Description
Jean Legros (1917–1981) Triangles in Space 1977 Acrylic and collage on cardboard, signed and dated in the lower right-hand corner, bearing the studio stamp on the reverse 28.5 x 28.5 cm Condition report: Framed From childhood, Jean Legros was surrounded by art, his father having connections with artists such as André Derain, Charles Despiau and Henri Laurens… his artistic career was interrupted by the War, which claimed the life of his brother, a member of the Resistance, who was shot in 1943. In 1945, he obtained a C.A.P. (Certificate of Professional Competence) as a shepherd, a trade he practised for a year – a period of isolation that was no doubt necessary – before returning to Paris to embrace his destiny as an artist. He then became friends with Agnès Varda, trained under the great abstract artist Jean Dewasne, and gradually moved away from figurative art towards minimalist geometric abstraction. In the 1970s, he arrived at the essence of his style (the ‘Toiles à Bandes’, ‘Ronds musicaux’ and ‘Espaces biais’ series) and, in particular, with the superb series we are presenting here: ‘Les Grues de Beaubourg’. Fascinated by Renzo Piano’s project and, above all, by the scale of the works on the Beaubourg site, Jean Legros took photographs of the cranes overseeing the construction; he drew on these prints, retaining only the outlines to form broad strokes – sometimes distorted by the weather – in the primary colours that would come to represent the National Museum of Modern Art. Despite the significance of his work and strong support (from Aurélie Nemours, Jean Leppien and others), the artist, who was a solitary figure, suffered from a sense of being misunderstood and took his own life in 1981. A few years after his death, the artist Roger Leloup stated that ‘he remains to France what Barnett Newman is to the United States’. With the Centre Pompidou closed for renovation and the rise of minimal abstraction, we can safely assume that Jean Legros’s work will be given a new opportunity to fulfil its destiny.
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About the sale The 70s, 80s, 90s & 2000s – Iconic Decades VI
Auction location
Auction time 09/26/2026 at 10:30 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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