A fascinating work by Eugène Leroy, at first glance abstract, the form of a female head emerges from the thick, impasto brush strokes the artist is so admired for. French painter Eugène Leroy was inspired by the great masters, Giorgione, Rembrandt, van Gogh. His style grew from a devotion to the materials at hand, painting in a manner true to the medium. As in this example, the subjects of his works are subservient to the expression of the materials themselves, animated in earthy tones reminiscent of Rembrandt’s own palette. Jean Clair wrote of the artist that he wants not to capture the likeness, but rather "the indefinite, the elusive, the unexpected."
During an exhibition at Galerie Claude Bernard in 1961, Georg Baselitz discovered a painting by Leroy and became one of his foremost collectors. In 1988 the Museum of Modern Art City of Paris organized his first retrospective.
Selected Public Collections:
Cologne, Walraf Richards Museum
Cologne, Ludwig Museum
Eindhoven. Stedelijk van Abbemuseum
Amsterdam Stedelijkmuseum
The Hague. Gemeenstemuseum
Buffalo (New York). Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The Hirshhorn Collection
Lisbon, the Berardo Collection
Humlebaeck, Denmark Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Vancouver, Canada, Rennie Collection
Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris
Paris, National Museum of Modern Art. Centre Georges Pompidou
Roubaix, La Piscine, Museum of Art and Industry
Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Saint-Paul de Vence, Fondation Maeght
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France
Paris, FNAC (Fonds National d'Art Contemporain)