Joseph (Joseph) Hecht, CONSTRUCTING THE ARK, 1926

21,6 x 29,8cm - copperplate, paper

signed p.d. (in pencil): Joseph Hecht, inscribed l.d.: épreuve d'artiste



The work comes from the "Noah's Ark" portfolio, with texts by Gustave Kahn and André Suarès

In 1926, at Galerie le Nouvel Essor in Paris, the artist presented works from his Noah's Ark portfolio with a foreword by French symbolist Gustave Kahn.

Jozef Hecht (Lodz 1891 - Paris 1951) - painter, printmaker and sculptor. Initially a pupil at a trade school in Brest-Litovsk, he later studied (1909-1914) at Krakow's Academy of Fine Arts as a pupil of Wojciech Weiss. In the years before World War I, he traveled to Vienna, Rome and Capri. The outbreak of war found him in Berlin, from where he left for Norway. Since 1919 he lived in Paris, in the Montparnasse district, maintaining close friendships with artists of the "La Ruche" colony, including M. Kisling, A. Modigliani, In 1923 he met W. Hayter, who introduced him to the copperplate technique, and from then on the artist also took up printmaking. He was associated with the association La Jeune Gravure Contemporaine and participated in its exhibitions. In 1936 he traveled to Sweden, and during the years of World War II he stayed in Casablanca, Marseille and Magnieu in Szbaudia.
Hecht's work was initially formed within the circle of influence of the Cracow school and Norwegian painting (E. Munch). The artist's mature style - distinguished by a thin stylized line, present in both his paintings and prints - was formed in Paris. As a graphic artist, Hecht was very well known and respected. He illustrated books and published several albums of prints, including: L'Arche de Noé (1926), Atlas (1928), Animaux (1929); he developed the graphic series Londres or Ile-de-cormorans. Toward the end of his life, he experimented by developing his own graphic techniques.
Both painterly and graphic works of Hecht, during his lifetime, were shown in numerous exhibitions, including in Poland (Lviv, Warsaw, Lodz), Norway, France (many times Salons and galleries in Paris), Great Britain (London), USA (New York, Washington, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Johannesburg, Pretoria). Today the artist's works are, among others, in museum collections in France, Denmark, Great Britain, Israel and the USA. In the collections of Polish museums - there are only a few of his works (National Museums in Krakow and Warsaw, Muz. Sztuki in Lodz).