Sharjah24 – AFP: Art experts in the Netherlands said Thursday they had discovered an important painting by the French Cubist Fernand Leger that had been hidden for more than a century on the back of another canvas.
The unknown work "Smoke over the Rooftops", believed to date from 1911-12, was on the flip-side of "Bastille Day", made a year later, according to conservation specialists Studio Redivivus.
Partially damaged and covered with a hard glue-like layer during its lost years, it has now been painstakingly restored and reveals a "turning point" in the work of Leger, a Paris contemporary of Picasso.
"It really is a discovery," Gwendolyn Boeve-Jones, director of the Hague-based Studio Redivivus, said.
The work is believed to be part of a series in which Leger painted the view from his studio of the Paris skyline towards Notre Dame, repeatedly focusing on the smoking chimneys.
Dutch art historian Sjraar van Heugten said only seven from the series were previously known to still exist, and the new work shows "hugely important" advances in Leger's use of colour and abstraction.
The story of the lost Leger begins around 110 years ago when the artist (1881-1955) gave the "Bastille Day" painting to his friend Marc Duchene as a wedding present in 1912 or 1913.
But Duchene was killed in World War I, and while the painting stayed in his family the "sad memories" meant it was never displayed and "remained unknown for years", Van Heugten said.
For an optimal experience, please
