André Lhote

André Lhote (Bordeaux, 1885 - Paris, 1962) was a French painter associated with Cubism, and one of the most influential art teachers in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century. His significance lies less in radical rupture than in his attempt to reconcile Cubist innovation with classical tradition, a stance that won him a wide audience among collectors who were wary of the more extreme changes.

Lhote first trained in sculpture and wood carving in Bordeaux and began painting in his spare time. In 1905 he set up his own studio to devote himself fully to painting. Influenced by Gauguin and Cézanne, he held his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Druet in 1910, a few years after moving to Paris. Initially working in a Fauvist manner, he moved towards Cubism and joined the Section d'Or group in 1912, alongside figures such as Gleizes, Villon, Duchamp and Metzinger. Works such as French Landscape (1912) and L'Escale (1913) belong to this phase, although his later canvases show a more restrained and academic language. The First World War interrupted his activity, and after his discharge from the army he became part of the group of Cubists supported by Léonce Rosenberg.

In 1922 he opened his own academy in Montparnasse, through which he spread his aesthetic ideas for decades. He also taught at other Paris schools and had many pupils who became famous, among them Henri Cartier-Bresson, Tamara de Lempicka and William Klein. His theoretical writings, published in art journals, carried considerable weight in the middle decades of the century. Lhote lectured in Belgium, England and Italy, and from the 1950s also in Egypt and Brazil, where he worked with Effat Nagy. In 1955 he received the Grand Prix National de Peinture. His legacy rests chiefly on his teaching and on the artists he trained.