Woman, the Artist's Fiancée, Ca 1938: French Fauve Neo Primitivist School of Paris Expressionist Art, Coloured Pencil Drawing on Paper

Gabriel Zendel's pictures from the second quarter of the 20th Century reflect the strange atmosphere of the time during which they were painted. They might be described as Neo-primitivist, Fauve, and often include a hint of surrealism.

Here is a lovely and intimiste portrait of a woman by the artist, depicting most likely the love of his life, Agathe, a milliner, whom he married in 1939. I have unearthed a photo of her. Do have a look and see if you can confirm the remeblance.

Gabriel Zendel was born in January 1906 in Jezov, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, into a Polish Family of Jewish origin. Gabriel’s vocation as a painter manifested itself from childhood, and was always encouraged by his relatives. The family settled in Paris, where the father successfully opened an art book binding workshop on Avenue Jean-Jaurès. Young Gabriel started to work there as an apprentice aged 14 - and set up an easel at the back of the shop!

In 1925, Zendel enrolled in the Institute of Contemporary Aesthetics in rue Notre-Dame-des- Champs, where Paul Bornet was a professor. In 1929, Zendel sold his first painting, a Montmartre urban landscape, and began to enjoy a certain celebrity. On the request of Jean Cassou, the writer, art critic and the first Director of the new Musée national d'Art moderne in Paris, the French state bought its first of Gabriel's paintings.

At the start of the war, Gabriel was mobilised to serve in a hospital train. He continued to draw and sent his works to Amiens, with the aim of organising an exhibition, but everything was lost when the city got destroyed.

When he was discharged from service, Gabriel returned to Paris. As a Jew, he was arrested, by the Germans, but managed to escape and settled in Cannes where he painted relentlessly. After the war, he returned to his Parisian studio. In 1949, he went to America on the occasion of an exhibition of his works at the mythical Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York. The collector Stephen Clark bought a painting. Durand-Ruel also organised several exhibitions of Zendel’s work in Paris. Gabriel also had private views at the equally important Galerie de Paris, the Galerie Drouant-David, and the Galerie de la Présidence. Internationally, he showed his work in Sweden, Japan, Canada, Hungary and Switzerland.

Works by Gabriel Zendel are held by the Museum of modern art of the city of Paris, the Petit Palais, Paris, the French Embassy in Vienna, the Rennes Museum of Fine Arts , the Libourne Museum of Fine Arts, the Frédéric Blandin Municipal Museum in Nevers, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary art of Saint-Étienne, the Dunkirk Museum of Fine Arts, the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts, the Eugène-Boudin Museum in Honfleur, the André-Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre, the Denys-Puech Museum in Rodez, the Museum of Art and History of Judaism, Paris, in the French National Center for Plastic Arts, and in several other institutions.

Our drawing by Zendel in coloured pencils is signed at the lower right, and measures 36 x 29 cm. The overall size is 52 x 46 cm. Please request our Newsletter No.19 - the Gabriel Zendel Special - for further information on the artist!

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.