Alfred LENICA (1899–1977), Geometric Abstraction, 1943

watercolor, crayon, paper; 40 x 28 cm (in standard format);
signed lower right: Lenica (in crayon)
signed, dated, and inscribed on the reverse: Lenica / Poznań / 1943 (in pencil)
on the reverse, a label marked: LE 43 p 001 (in ballpoint pen)

Provenance:
private collection, Poland

Dated to 1943, this work is an important example of Lenica’s early explorations at a time when his interest in Cubism and Surrealism was intensifying under the influence of his contacts with the Kraków avant-garde. In this composition, the artist arranged a compact group of geometric and semi-geometric forms in red, yellow, blue, and black. The empty space surrounding them heightens the tension between the individual elements while simultaneously reinforcing the work’s rhythmic quality.