Marcel Janco Romanian, 1895-1984
Composition with flowers is part of this series of reliefs from 1916-1922. The use of sack canvas sets the scene for a poverty of raw, recuperated and reappropriated material that is entirely Dada. This work comes at a pivotal moment for Marcel Janco. During his stay in Paris, where he worked with his brother as an architect, Janco found himself increasingly advocating a more constructivist Dada. This new approach culminated in his participation in the 1922 Constructivist Congress in Weimar, initiated by Theo van Doesburg, the driving force behind De Stijl. Janco later left France and returned to Romania, where he was to lead the avant-garde movements for more than a decade. Composition with Flowers retains the spirit of Dada, while showing this new artistic path, less chaotic, based on the order of colours and forms.
Provenance
Artist's studioCollection Michel Seuphor (art critic, theorician and poet, founder of the Cercle et Carré group)
Galerie Natalie Seroussi, Paris
Galerie Jean-François Cazeau, Paris
Expositions
Paris, Marcel Janco, Galerie Denise René, nov. 1963, cat. n°10.
Kunsthaus Zurich et Musée National d'Art Moder ne de Paris, Dada. Exposition commémorative du cinquantenaire, novembre 1966 - janvier 1967, n°143.
Centre G. Pompidou, Dada, 5 octobre 2005 - 9 janvier 2006, reproduit dans le catalogue sous le n° 4 p. 535. L’exposition a été organisée par le Musée National d’art Moderne et la National Gallery of Art de Washington, avec l’aide du MoMA, New-York.
Catalogues
Catalogue raisonné, par Marcel L. Mendelson, éd Massadah Publishing Company Ltd., Tel Aviv, p. 32/33.