Maurice DENIS (1870 - 1943) - Lot 117

Maurice DENIS (1870 - 1943) Male Academy, between 1888 and 1889 Black pencil. Signed and annotated "eleve de Lefebvre, Balla et Doucet" lower right. (Restorations, tears and folds). 62 x 47 cm Julio Balla was Denis' teacher between 1885 and 1888. Jules Lefebvre and Lucien Doucet were both teachers at the Académie Julian, where Denis was enrolled from 1888. Our drawing can be compared with several academies in the Musée Départemental Maurice Denis in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (for the two studies most similar to ours, see below): PMD 976.1.15, PMD 976.1.1125, reproduced in Agnès Delannoy (ed.), Maurice Denis dessinateur. L'Œuvre dévoilé, musée départemental Maurice Denis from October 28, 2006 to July 21, 2007, musée départemental Maurice Denis and Somogy Éditions d'art, 2006, p. 31). We would like to thank Fabienne Stahl and Clémence Gaboriau for the information they provided.