Masterpiece: Cubist Pop Art Precursor Tate Gallery Artist Fougeron Museum Exhibited , Wartime 1943 Lemons on a Table Oil on Canvas

This extraordinarily strong still life was painted by André Fougeron (1913-1998) during the Second World War, in 1943.

With a cubist influence, vigorous lines and colours, the work can almost be considered a precursor to the pop art that would emerge in the 1950s.

Before the war, the young painter Fougeron had already started to make a reputation for himself. He exhibited with the "Indelicates", a group of radical young artists, at the Billiet-Vorms gallery. At the "super-independent" art fair, the Salon des Supindépendants, he showed political works on the subject of the Spanish Civil War. He had joined the Communist Party and was welcomed to the "Maison de la Culture", the powerhouse for a united Left front of intellectuals and artists in Paris.

Mobilised, he fought in the Battle of Belgium, was caught, taken prisoner, escaped. He returned to Paris via the Free Zone and joined the resistance. By the time the oil on canvas presented here was painted, he had turned his artists' studio into an underground print workshop. He printed clandestine journals including the album of lithographs "Vaincre", a collaborative work containing explicit denunciations of Hitler and concentration camps, but also of Petain and French collaborationist brutalities. Quite a guy, huh?

However, the French establishment did not particularly appreciate being reminded of their shortcomings, and his lifelong allegiance to communism was considered rather awkward, too. Rather than being considered one of the major artists of the 20th Century, towards the end of the latter, Fougeron was almost forgotten in his native country. Oddly enough, his rehabilitation started in the UK.

In 1982, his work "The Judges" figured in "Aftermath: new images of man, France 1944-1954", which inaugurated the Barbican Art Gallery.

Surrounded by colourful paintings by Matisse, Bonnard and Picasso, Fougeron's 1950 painting none the less dominated coverage of the exhibition. The Tate Modern in London dedicated a whole room to him at its opening in 2000. Of the eight paintings by Fougeron spanning the 1937-1958 period which have been acquired by the Tate, two are on permanent display.

Even in France, things are now changing: Fougeron had a one-man show in the Museum of Roubaix in 2014.

Fougeron's painting are rarely on the market, as many have been lost or destroyed, so I am absolutely delighted to be able to present this powerful painting from the artist's best period. I am not the only one thinking that the picture is outstanding: it featured, in the very important 1950 exhibition "Un demi siècle de peinture Française" at the Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille, alongside works by Renoir, Matisse, Miro, Modigliani and Picasso. The catalogue (No 35) reads: "André Fougeron, young painter, extremely gifted. With his graphics, sense of design and colours proves to be an interesting personality".

Measuring 65 x 81 cm, the oil on canvas is signed and dated at the upper right. Due to the use of wartime materials by the artist, the painting shows craquelure which has been professionally restored and consolidated so that the painting is now safe for future generations. With its original artist's strip frame, the overall framed size is 66 x 82 cm

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.