André Lhote

André Lhote was a French painter, sculptor, art theoretician and teacher. His work can be classified as Cubism.

Inspired by Paul Gauguin at the beginning of his artistic career, André Lhote was very impressed by the major retrospective of Cézanne’s works organized in 1907, and then joined the Cubists, especially temporarily with the group of artists that had formed around Juan Gris.

From the Cubists, Lhote only took over the simplification of forms and the dissolution of motifs into predominantly angular surfaces. In the choice of motifs and the composition of his pictures, he always kept classical painting in mind and made sure that his paintings remained “legible”. His late work was characterized by large-scale wall paintings, such as those in the medical faculty of Bordeaux (1957).

André Lhote was the author of several theoretical treatises. In these as well as in his textbooks and numerous other writings, he dealt intensively with painting. Through his teaching activities and his books he exerted a great influence. Among his students were Else Hertzer, Tamara de Lempicka, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alf Bayrle, Fred Klein and William Klein, Gerhild Diesner, Oswald Petersen and Wilfried Kirschl.