'Lapin Agile, Montmartre' by Alois Lecocque, 1969, Paris, Académie Julian, Laguna Beach, Venice Biennale

Description

'Lapin Agile, Montmartre' by Alois Lecoque, Paris, Académie Julian, Laguna Beach, Venice Biennale.
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Signed lower right, 'Lecoque' for Alois … more 'Lapin Agile, Montmartre' by Alois Lecoque, Paris, Académie Julian, Laguna Beach, Venice Biennale.
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Signed lower right, 'Lecoque' for Alois Lecoque (Czech-American, 1891-1981) and dated 1969; additionally titled, verso, 'Cabaret Lapin Agile, Montmartre', signed and dated.

Born in Prague, writer and painter Alois Lecoque took up art at an early age, studying in Prague, Croatia, Paris, Rome, Naples, the Dalmatian seashore and the Isle of Capri. He traveled abroad first to Croatia, attending the Academie Beaux Arts, Zagreb to study with Menci Clement Crnčić, a founder of modern Croatian painting. In 1909, Lecoque moved to Paris, where he settled at La Ruche and studied at the Académie Julian under Emil Bernard and also at the École des Beaux- Arts. During this time, he also met and worked with Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani and August Renoir, who especially influenced his art. In 1914, he returned to Prague before making a trip to Africa and returning to Paris in 1917. He lived and worked in Paris until 1925, when he took a trip to Venice to participate for his first time at the Venice Biennale (1926) and then continued back to his home city of Prague until 1939. During World War II, Lecoque was in Yugoslavia and, in 1944, he worked and exhibited in Italy, dividing his time between Rome, Florence, Milan and Capri. Finally, Lecoque emigrated to the United States in 1951 and first lived in Chicago before moving to California and establishing himself in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach.

Lecoque exhibited widely and with success including in the Anglo-German Exhibition at the Crystal Palace (London, 1913), at the Galerie Charpentier (Paris, 1925), at the Biennale di Venezia (1926, 1928), Bergen Galleries (Oslo, 1935), Municipal Tower Gallery (Los Angeles, 1958), in in Prague (1926), Yugoslavia (1940, 1941), Paris (1961, 1962, 1965), throughout Italy (between 1945-1950), Chicago (between 1952-1955), Madrid (1973) and New York (1973). He was a member of the Society of Arts, Science, Letters (Paris), and the Club Culturel Français (Los Angeles) and the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the Architect Turek (first prize, Prague, 1914) and from the Society of Arts, Science, Letters in Paris (Gold Medal, 1966). Alois Lecoque's work is in the collections of the Old Montmartre Museum (Paris), the Beaux-Arts Ville (Paris), Prague Museum, Davenport Museum (Iowa), and the Museum of Modern Art, Haifa (Israel), among others.

Reference:
Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 2, page 1977; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 8, page 406; Nancy Dustin Moure, "Publications in California Art No. 11 , Index to California Art Exhibited at the Laguna Beach Art Association, 1918-1972; 2015 edition"; LeCoque brochure, Laguna Beach Art Association, January 1956; et al. less