Louis Marcoussi – Gallery of Paintings Created Between 1912 and 1941

In the paintings of Louis Marcoussis, the strict construction and geometric forms of Cubism intertwine with the artist’s subtle poetic vision and his individual manner of execution.

Marcoussis’s canvases are highly schematic. Individual fragments interlace and pile upon one another, forming a world of their own — full of fantasy and intentional elusiveness. By manipulating delicate gradations of colour and light, the artist scatters vivid chromatic accents across the surface, creating a distinct aura of poetic metaphor.

Marcoussis aligned himself with Cubism and exhibited his works with the “Section d’Or” group. His paintings feature forms characteristic of the movement: guitars, pipes, bottles and glasses on round tables, playing cards, and small tobacco packets.

Bottles? Light plays with them, laughs at them, and transforms them.

In many works Marcoussis approached synthetic Cubism, employing collage techniques and various inscriptions. Human figures and objects are outlined with expressive contours, while planes filled with soft, even colours overlap and merge into one another.

We selected for publication 30 landmark works by Marcoussis created between 1912 and 1941 for several reasons:

• This period reflects the heyday of the “Section d’Or” and its outstanding art.
• Marcoussis’s works reveal a combination of Cubist structures with elements of classical painting.
• Louis Marcoussis’s paintings are rare and sought after at international auctions, attracting collectors of Cubist art.

It is pointless — impossible — to explain music, painting, or the emotions of literature with words. If they could be explained, they would speak only in words. But they are a distinct language, a separate element altogether, expressing ideas of an entirely different kind. Marcoussis alters the configuration of space itself, intentionally breaking all compositional rules and stepping beyond the boundaries of the canvas.

Louis Marcoussis – Nature morte

1912, 99 × 106 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Still life with Ephemeris

1914 canvas, 53 x 30 cm

Louis Marcoussis – The Musician

1908, 146 x 114 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Lulli

1919, 44 x 24 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Still life with pineapple

1920

Louis Marcoussis – Still life in front of the window

1920, 44 × 32 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Still life et au siphon

1920, 55 × 38 cm

Louis Marcoussis – The window overlooking the Eiffel Tower

1920

Louis Marcoussis – Guitar and pomegranates by a window

1921, 25 × 36 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Still life with Ace of Spades

1921, 75 × 53 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Couple

1922

Louis Marcoussis – La Cithare

1923, 81 × 100 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Composition cubiste au portrait, poisson et clair de lune

1926, 46 × 38 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Still life with pomegranates and knife on a pedestal

1926, 61 × 75 cm

Louis Marcoussis – La tranche de pastèque

1927, 65 × 81 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Hyeres I

1928, 91 × 74 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Nature morte aux poissons (or Hyeres II)

1928, 32 × 41 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Still life with window

1928, 122 × 86 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Toulon

1928, 81 × 65 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Nature morte au pain et au couteau

1929, 50 × 60 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Still life in front of the balcony

1929, 122 × 86 cm

Louis Marcoussis – City with viaduct

1930, 46 × 61 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Composition with frog

1937, 46 × 61 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Composition au coquillage

1940, 54 × 65 cm

Painting can be evaluated — such is the verdict. Fine painting, a sense of measure, everything one would expect from a Polish artist with academic training who came to Paris and, through Guillaume Apollinaire, entered the artistic circle. One of the dynasty’s statements regarding questions to the artist reads:

It was conceived that way.

Louis Marcoussis, or rather Ludwik Markus, skillfully applied the methods of his colleagues from Montmartre and Montparnasse, which in no way diminishes the beauty of the works we selected as the finest:

Louis Marcoussis – Kerity landscape

1927, 33 × 41 cm

Louis Marcoussis – La colombe poignardée

1927, 44 × 57 cm

Louis Marcoussis – Guitar still life

1928

Louis Marcoussis – Soleil couchant

1930, 81 × 99 cm

Marcoussis’s pictorial style evolved from analytical Cubism toward a brighter, more decorative manner. Objects seem to melt, dissolve, leaving only lightness and dancing air; forms interact, cling to and intertwine with one another in a game no one has ever seen before.

Anatoli Gostev admired the simplicity of Cubism, often repeating that nothing is more complex than simplicity.
Here is what he once said:

Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Louis Marcoussis turned to Cubism — or rather, retrieved it from ancient caves — made it fashionable, and earned recognition and money. Cubism is magnificent in its simplicity, yet its emotions are primitive as well. One must seek a symbiosis of simplicity and emotional depth.

– Anatoli Gostev (1946–2022)

I see color. That's what the artist thought