Henri HAYDEN / Henryk Hayden (1883 Warsaw – 1970 ParisProvençal Landscape / Paysage de Provence
Dimensions: 33.5 × 46 cm, 44 × 56 cm (with frame)
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
Signed lower left: Hayden
On the reverse, a paper label from Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Paris, with a handwritten description: “Hayden, Paysage.”
Work has been restored; this is the most recent photograph.
Certificate of authenticity.
Provenance:
Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Paris;
private collection.
An intimate landscape of southern France, rendered in light, vibrant tones, depicts buildings nestled amid lush greenery. The composition is built with a free, sketch-like brushstroke, featuring Hayden’s characteristic sense of color and synthetic treatment of form. The artist does not depict the landscape topographically, but rather brings out its luminosity, the rhythm of the greenery, and the soft atmosphere of the Provençal landscape.
Henryk Hayden (Warsaw 1883 – Paris 1970) was one of the most outstanding painters of Polish origin associated with the École de Paris circle. He began his artistic studies at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts; at the same time, he also studied at the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1907, he left for Paris, where he enrolled at the Académie “La Palette.” From 1908 onward, he frequently traveled to Brittany, where he kept in touch with W. Ślewiński. After 1915, he became associated with the Parisian artistic avant-garde circle, including P. Picasso, J. Gris, G. Severini, and H. Matisse. He settled permanently in France. In 1920, he visited his family in Poland, but his ties to his homeland were rather tenuous—he only rarely sent paintings to exhibitions there. He exhibited extensively in France, however; beginning in 1909, he regularly participated in the Paris Salons and also held solo exhibitions. During World War II, he lived in southern France, where he formed a long-standing friendship with S. Beckett. He painted landscapes, portraits, and still lifes, which initially showed connections to Ślewiński’s style and later (1912–21) to the work of Cézanne and Cubism. After 1922, he created realistic portraits and landscapes; toward the end of his life, he returned to Cubist experimentation.
