André Lhote

André Lhote was a French painter, theoretician, critic, and art teacher who was closely associated with Cubism.

Lhote’s artistic training was grounded in decorative arts, which he pursued at the École des Beaux-Arts in his native Bordeaux from 1898 to 1906, before turning his full attention to painting. He moved to Paris in 1906 and immediately began submitting work to the Salon d’Automne and Salon des Artistes Indépendants. Initially influenced by Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, and the Fauves, by 1910 Lhote had gravitated toward Cubist artists, among them Fernand Léger, Albert Gleizes, and Jean Metzinger. At the 1911 Salon d’Automne, Lhote’s large-scale Port of Bordeaux (1911; private collection), a harbor scene that was typical subject matter for the artist, hung alongside Cubist paintings by those artists. This large-scale composition was acquired from the artist at the time of the exhibition by the Swedish painter, collector, and friend of the artist Georg Pauli. Two years later, Pauli organized a one-man show of Lhote’s work in Stockholm.

In 1912 Lhote joined Section d’Or (also known as the Puteaux Group, 1912–14), a short-lived association of Cubist artists spearheaded by brothers Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon. Lhote’s paintings were included in the association’s large group exhibition, Salon de la Section d’Or, which was held at Galerie de la Boëtie in Paris from October 10–30, 1912.

After World War I, Lhote gained the attention of Léonce Rosenberg and became one of the artists the dealer promoted during the early 1920s. Lhote also contributed to the development of Cubism through theoretical writing and art criticism. His texts appeared regularly in the prestigious periodical La nouvelle revue française (1909–present) until 1940. He also taught at the Académie Notre-Dame des Champs (1918–1922) and beginning in 1922 at his own Académie André Lhote.

Although little is know about Lhote as a collector, the artist owned at least one Cubist work, a drawing by Georges Braque, Still Life with Dice (1911; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Promised Gift from the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection).