Louis Marcoussis

"

Portrait de Apollinaire

" , 1913
Oil on canvas - On reverse side Calligramme by Apollinaire - 68cm x 54,5cm - Authentication on photo and Expertise by Alice Marcoussis, dated 1973 - Signed and dated front of work - On back label Galerie Kahnweiler; label Collection Particuliere Tzara; label Gallery Kriegel; cartouche with poem by Guillaume Apollinare, signed.

The work was created on the occasion of the publication of Guillaume Apollinaire's collection of poems entitled Alcools. Marcoussis gave the painting to the poet, who convinced the art dealer Daniel - Henry Kahnweiler to exhibit it in his gallery in Rue Vignon for sale. After a few months, the work returned to Apollinaire's collection and upon his death entered those of several artists and intellectuals including the DADA poet Tristan Tzara. Since 1940, traces of it have been lost due to the vicissitudes of war. The painting was considered lost until it was rediscovered by the Kriegel Gallery.