Painting by Gustav Poulain - La Stylization de Maurice Rostand, 1925

Features

Artist:  Gaston Poulain (1903-1973)

Artwork title:  La stylisation di Maurice Rostand

Age:  20th Century / 1901 - 2000

Subject:  Portrait/Face

Artistic technique:  Painting

Technical specification:  Oil on Canvas

Description : La stylisation di Maurice Rostand

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. On the back there is a cartouche with the name of the artist, the title and the symbolic explanation of the figures represented. The work is an early work by Gaston Poulain, better known for his later career as an art critic and journalist. The central focus of the scene is the figure of Maurice Rostand who, languidly stretched out on a polar bear skin, with one hand holding a lit cigarette, with the other holding an open notebook with some sheets of paper, a symbol of his writing work. Behind him emerge some stylised figures, rendered with simple black lines on a grey background, evidently evoked by the man's meditations. As from the cartouche to the back, the figures depicted are from left to right: Jeunesse (Youth); Mort (Death, represented by a skull); Gloire (Glory) represented by a winged figure with its head crowned with laurel, who caresses the head of Maurice Rostand; l'Archange (the Archangel), a winged figure dressed in uniform, reaching towards the sky, probably a modern representation of the Archangel Michael (whom traditional iconography depicts wearing armour); l'Amour (Love), personified by a couple holding a heart. Maurice Rostand (1891 -1968) was a well-known French writer, author mainly of theatrical works in verse; homosexual, he courageously supported the cause of this orientation, in particular with the work "Le procès d'Oscar Wilde" (The Trial of Oscar Wilde), published in 1935. The canvas of the work is mounted on a frame from the second half of the 20th century.

Product Condition:
Product in good condition, shows small signs of wear. We try to present the real condition as completely as possible with the photos. If some details are not clear from the photos, what is reported in the description is valid.

Artwork dimensions (cm):
Height: 170
Width: 210
Depth: 3