Cissie Kean

(German/British 1871-1961)

Abstract with Rose and Bird Cage, c.1920s

oil on canvas

signed verso ‘C. KEAN’

32.5 x 46 cm.

in a period frame

Provenance

with Whitford Fine Art, London, by whom sold to

private collection, UK; by whom sold with

Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury, 16 March 2016, lot 446; 

private collection, UK until 2025.

Exhibited

Whitford Fine Art, London, 'Cissie Kean', February 1999, no.9.

Born to a German family but largely living between Paris and London, Kean was much influenced by the work of the Modernist avant-garde, in particular Andre Lhote, Jean Marchand and her friend Frances Hogdkins. She owned a number of works by Hodgkins from the 1910s. The present work displays the impact of Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant on her style during the 1920s when she was studying in Paris. Two exhibitions were dedicated to her work at Whitford Fine Art, London, in 1999 and 2002.