Charles Levier - Still Life With a Martini Glass - Oil Painting

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Charles Levier - Still Life with a Martini glass - Oil painting
French Expressionist - Oil painting on board - … Read more Charles Levier - Still Life with a Martini glass - Oil painting
French Expressionist - Oil painting on board - Signed
Board size 15x11" - Frame size 27x23x2"


Description
This is a captivating original mid-century oil painting on Masonite board by the celebrated French modernist Charles Levier. Measuring 15 by 11 inches (image size) and housed in its original, prominently stepped 27 by 23-inch rustic white-washed wooden gallery frame, the composition is a masterful study in form, color, and geometric balance characteristic of the post-war French school.The painting depicts an intimate tabletop arrangement set against a textured, neutral-toned wall with subtle grid-like partitions that suggest an interior architectural setting. Positioned atop an angular, fractured yellow table plane is a prominent, stylized ocher-yellow pitcher with a high, elegant handle and a tapered spout, balanced beside a shallow, wide-bowled stemmed Martini glass rendered in pale cream. In the center of the table, a single, minimally defined citrus fruit rests on a white, folded cloth napkin, adding an asymmetric focal point to the arrangement. Beneath the main tabletop, a secondary geometric table leg or support structure peaks through, echoing the sharp planes above.Levier’s style in this work is deeply expressive and structural, heavily influenced by the Cubist and Expressionist movements of the mid-20th century. The composition is defined by sharp, graphic black outlines that isolate and give architectural permanence to ordinary objects. The paint application is highly deliberate, utilizing visible, directional brushwork and a selectively applied impasto that lends an organic texture to the smooth surface of the board. The color palette is restricted yet vibrant, relying on deep ocher yellows, warm golds, and creams contrasted sharply against stark black lines, dark brown floorboard accents, and a muted, atmospheric background detailed with expressive charcoal-like smudges. The artist’s signature, "Levier," is confidently inscribed in black paint along the center-right edge of the composition.
Provenance and Gallery Markings

The historic authenticity and commercial lineage of this specific piece are firmly established by an original, undisturbed mid-century gallery label affixed to the verso (reverse side) of the wooden frame. The paper label belongs to Manhattan Galleries, Inc., a notable fine art establishment formerly operating at 540 South Lake Avenue in Pasadena, California. Featuring an old regional telephone prefix (Sycamore 5-9883), the label firmly roots the artwork's retail history within the height of the mid-20th-century West Coast art market. The right side of the label preserves the gallery's original handwritten archival details, designating the work under stock/inventory number Mo 919, confirming the title as "NATURE MORTE", and attributing the work directly to LEVIER.

Artist Biography: Charles Levier (1920–2003)

Charles Levier was the primary working pseudonym of Maurice Verrier, an influential French painter born in Corsica in 1920. Exhibiting a profound natural talent for visual art from early childhood, Levier relocated to Paris to undergo formal academic training at the prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts when he was just seventeen years old.The outbreak of World War II interrupted his early artistic career, leading him to serve in the French Navy. Following the war, Levier split his time between the artistic hubs of Paris, the French Riviera, and the United States, where his distinctive style quickly found a captivated audience.During the 1950s and 1960s, Levier rose to international prominence, riding the wave of American enthusiasm for post-war French modernism. Alongside contemporaries like Bernard Buffet, Levier developed a signature aesthetic characterized by linear abstraction, bold black linear frameworks, and a melancholic yet highly stylized treatment of traditional subjects. While he was highly celebrated for his atmospheric, architectural views of Parisian streets and harbors, his intimate still lifes and elongated, elegant figurative paintings of women became his most sought-after subjects.Levier enjoyed highly successful commercial representation with major American and European galleries, most notably the Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Galleries in New York City. His artwork attracted an elite circle of mid-century collectors, including prominent Hollywood figures and political dignitaries such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Today, his work is held in numerous private and public collections worldwide, including the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Seattle Art Museum, cementing his legacy as a vital bridge between classic French post-impressionism and mid-century modernism. See less