For a Portrait of Félix Barré

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For a Portrait of Félix Barré

1919?

Jacques Villon (Gaston Duchamp) (French, 1875–1963)

While this drawing is definitely related to Villon's 1913 drypoint of the actor Félix Barré, it bears a date of 1919, which the artist may have added later, perhaps in error. It demonstrates the elaborate experimentation with perspective construction that contributed to Villon's finished Cubist compositions. The sharply receding lines of the space in this drawing seem to be based on a basic perspective construction explained in Leonardo da Vinci's Treatise on Painting. Villon plotted the figure on the perspective diagram with dots and then connected them, a method that follows one established by Leonardo for measuring the distance of any given point of an object on a foreshortened plane.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

For a Portrait of Félix Barré

Date:

1919?

Artist:

Jacques Villon (Gaston Duchamp) (French, 1875–1963)

Medium:

Graphite, colored pencils, and opaque watercolor on wove paper

Dimensions:

Sheet: 12 7/16 x 9 1/2 inches (31.6 x 24.1 cm)

Classification:

Drawings

Credit Line:

125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of The Judith Rothschild Foundation, 2001

Accession Number:

2001-9-34

Geography:

Made in France, Europe

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