(Young woman with blue feather)

Marcel Vertes

The work that Marcel Vertes created when he was establishing himself as a professional artist would not have revealed his later lighthearted, humorous art. He worked as a graphic artist for sensationalist and subversive magazines in Budapest, the country of his birth, capturing the faces of criminals, corpses, and anti-establishment imagery. It wasn’t until he relocated to Paris that he turned his attention to lighter fare, including the famous Parisian nightlife.

As World War II progressed, however, Vertes witnessed the encroaching influence of totalitarianism, occasionally addressing it in his work, though he feared for his safety. Two days before the German invasion of France he fled to the United States, settling in New York City. It was at this time his work began to evolve into its most recognized style: charming imagery of dancers, animals, and city scenes, sometimes verging onto erotica. He employed gestural linework and washes of tender springtime hues, evoking a sense of bright sunshine. In this untitled work, he’s depicted a coy young woman with bright blonde hair using only a handful of lines to provide structure to her face. Otherwise, the composition is an expert collection of washes in soft green, rose, and a splash of cerulean. It is an image that is of its time: in essence, by the 1950s Vertes used his art as a language of hope, capturing what he - and the world - craved most following the Second World War: carefree, unfettered joy.