André Lhote, Les Pins Devant Mirmande, circa 1928-1930

André Lhote was born in 1885 and was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. After initially working in a Fauvist style, Lhote shifted towards Cubism and joined the Section d'Or group in 1912, exhibiting at the Salon de la Section d'Or. He was alongside some of the fathers of modern art, including Albert Gleizes, Jacques Villon, Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp, Jean Metzinger, Francis Picabia and Roger de La Fresnaye. Lhote lectured extensively in France and other countries, including Belgium, England, Italy and, from the 50s, also in Egypt and Brazil. In Egypt, Lhote worked with Effat Nagy using Egyptian archaeology as a subject matter for their work. He was rewarded with the Grand Prix National de Peinture for 1955, and the UNESCO commission for sculpture appointed Lhote president of the International Association of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers.