Description:

studio stamps on verso
pen and black ink, white gouache, and charcoal
760 x 540 mm

Provenance:

Private collection, Paris

Note:

The futurist urban visions of Paul Mantes are the product of the artist’s dual interests, as a career architect and a lifelong painter. Although a Major of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and a holder of the Second Grand Prix de Rome for painting in 1944, Mantes pursued a career as an architect, designing villas and administrative buildings, having briefly taught at the Ecole Boulle and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Following his retirement from the architectural firm, DPLG, he returned with vigour to his first vocation, however.

The present work belongs to a series of visions of imaginary cities and futurist metropolises, which feature air hangars, naval bases, and bridges. These drawings are drawn primarily in charcoal or black chalk on large sheets of paper, and they explore the graphic potential of architectural forms and ways of living. Unlike Mantes’ oil paintings, which are characterised by their intrepid use of colour, these drawings are more stark and subtle in their exploration of the tonal ranges.

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