Black and white chalks on tan wove paper, 1916. 495x247 mm; 19 5/8x9 7/8 inches. Signed, dated and dedicated "A mon cher ami Alexandre Mercereau" in black chalk, lower left recto.
Provenance: Alexandre Mercereau, Paris; Galerie Antoine Laurentin, Paris; private collection, New York.
The dedicatee Alexandre Mercereau (1884-1945) was a French Symbolist poet and critic who co-founded the utopian community Abbaye de Créteil during the fall of 1906. According to his friend and fellow Abbaye de Créteil founder, the artist Albert Gleizes (1881-1953), Mercereau was responsible for introducing him to Jean Metzinger (1883-1956), Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) and Henri Le Fauconnier (1881-1946) in 1910—the same year that Mercereau curated and included these artists in a Moscow exhibition, probably the first Knave of Diamonds Exhibition, a foundational moment in the Cubist art movement. By 1914, Mercereau had met the Spanish sculptor and pioneer of Cubism Julio González and became his lifelong supporter and friend.Standing Female Nude.
