48 - Henri HAYDEN (Warsaw 1883 – Paris 1970)

Henri HAYDEN (Warsaw 1883 – Paris 1970) Self-Portrait of the Painter Painted in 1915 Oil on canvas 60 x 46 cm Signed and dated lower left "Hayden 1915" (re-stretched) A certificate by Pierre Célice dated 2018 will be provided to the buyer. This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné. Provenance: Formerly in the Henri Benezit Collection, then inherited Henri Hayden was a Polish painter and draftsman of the École de Paris. He was born in Warsaw in 1883 into a family of merchants. Beginning in 1902, he studied at the Warsaw University of Technology and the School of Fine Arts. Henri Hayden moved to Paris in 1907, setting up a studio on Boulevard Saint-Michel, and studied at the “La Palette” academy. Beginning in 1909, the painter made regular trips to Brittany, to Pont-Aven and Le Pouldu, where he met his elder colleague Wladyslaw Slewinski. Starting in 1914, he began associating with the Cubists—Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, and Jean Metzinger—and gradually developed a Cubist pictorial language. Henri Hayden painted this self-portrait in 1915 at a pivotal moment in his career, between his Cézanne-inspired period and his gradual embrace of Cubism. Henri Hayden depicts himself in a bust view, slightly in three-quarter profile, in a space defined behind him by a wall and a green curtain. He depicts his face turned toward the viewer, with a direct and determined gaze. The eyes, rendered as two solid, almost entirely black masses, lend the face a striking intensity, while the pursed lips reinforce the expression of introspection. The face serves as a key focal point of the composition. Hayden does not seek to meticulously reproduce his features; instead, he constructs them using broad swaths of light and shadow. The forehead, nose, cheekbones, and cheek are strongly modeled with strokes of brown, ochre, and black. The warm, side lighting brings certain parts of the face into relief, while others remain shrouded in darkness. The color palette, deliberately limited and subdued, reflects the pivotal nature of the work, created at a time when a stylistic shift was beginning to take shape in Hayden’s painting. Painted in 1915, this rare self-portrait offers valuable insight into the artist’s creative practice and holds a significant place in his body of work. E.V