Louis Soutter
1871 - 1942
Effluves - Il exige un porto. 1936.
Pen and India ink drawing.
Dated in the lower right corner and titled at the top of the image. Illegible inscription in the upper left corner. On off-white mould-made paper. 44 x 58 cm (17.3 x 22.8 in), the full sheet. [JS].

• Seduction, lust, passion, and despair: an intoxicating graphic psychogram.
• Radically reduced aesthetics with maximum expressiveness.
• Forgotten and misunderstood, Soutter's work, created in the solitude of the Ballaigues asylum, is a celebrated rediscovery today.
• Part of one of the artist's first solo exhibitions at the Lenbachhaus, Munich, in 1985.
• Excellent provenance: from the collection of Le Corbusier, Soutter's second cousin and most important patron.
• Part of an acclaimed Berlin private collection for more than 35 years.

PROVENANCE: Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris (inv. no. 423).
Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin (with a label on the back of the frame).
Private collection, Berlin (acquired from the above in 1989).

EXHIBITION: Louis Soutter (1871–1942), Zeichnungen, Bücher, Fingermalereien, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, April 17–July 9, 1985 (with the label on the back of the frame).
Louis Soutter. L'art commence où finit la vie, Musée Cantini, Marseille, July 11–September 18, 1987 (with the label on the back of the frame).

LITERATURE: Michel Thévoz, Louis Soutter, Lausanne 1974/1976, CR no. 2383.
Le Corbusier, quoted from: Michel Thévoz, L. Soutter, 1970, p. 118.

Rare bicolor composition in good condition, considering the context in which Soutter’s drawings were created in his small room at the Ballaigues home. Slightly browned. Horizontal and vertical folding marks in the centre due to folded storage, with isolated, minimal color loss. With slight creases, dents, and rubbing marks and storage-related spots. Sheet edges with isolated, expertly repaired small tears. One professionally repaired tear from the top along the center fold extending approx. 10 cm into the image, but only slightly visible due to the dynamic image on the recto and hardly detracting from the harmonious overall impression.
For information concerning the condition, please view the high resolution image / backside image.