The Musician

Louis Casimir Ladislas Marcoussis

National Gallery of Art

Glimpses of body parts, bits of a stringed instrument, and hints of a background are fragmented and splintered in this vertical, abstracted painting. Painted within overlapping, geometric shapes, recognizable features like a nose, lips, eyes, and ears are at the top center above a chest, an arm, a ruffled shirt front, and bow tie. The scroll, neck, and bridge of an instrument, perhaps a cello, are below. A vase of flowers is in the background to the left, and a piano keyboard, music stand, and paper titled “Malvina Vass” are to the right. Most of the composition is painted in slate and celestial blue and smoky and nickel gray with some touches of brown, black, and muted red. The artist signed and dated the painting near the lower left corner, “Marcoussis 1914.”