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Guy NicodFrench Modernist Still Life with African Masks and Sculptural Forms
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About the Item
Title: French Modernist Still Life with African Masks and Sculptural Forms
Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021)
Gouache on artist paper, unframed
Size: 19.5 x 24 inches (height x width)
Provenance: Artists estate, France
Condition: Good overall with light handling marks and edge wear on the edges consistent with age.
Description:
A remarkable and atmospheric gouache by French modernist painter Guy Nicod, this composition blends still life and symbolism in a moody, theatrical arrangement of masks, sculptures, and drapery. Set against a textured grey-blue backdrop, the painting draws inspiration from both European modernism and African art — traditions that profoundly influenced 20th-century painters from Picasso to Modigliani.
In the centre, a table draped with ochre fabric supports carved figures and bottles, their shapes accentuated by deep shadows and highlights of cobalt and red. Surrounding these objects, painted masks and totemic faces emerge from the folds of fabric and dark recesses, creating a sense of mystery and ritual. The interplay of organic and geometric forms gives the work an almost stage-like quality, as though Nicod has assembled a still life of relics and symbols poised between the sacred and the surreal.
The artist’s expressive brushwork and bold contrasts of earth tones with ultramarine lend the composition a sculptural depth. Textural passages of layered gouache evoke weathered wood, stone, and cloth, while touches of yellow and orange inject warmth and energy. This painting demonstrates Nicod’s interest in both material and metaphysical subjects — the physical presence of objects and their suggestion of memory, spirituality, or cultural dialogue.
Unframed and ready for bespoke presentation, this rare gouache exemplifies Nicod’s imaginative exploration of modernist form and symbolic narrative, appealing to collectors of French mid-century art and those drawn to works that merge still life, abstraction, and cultural homage.
- Creator:Guy Nicod (1923 - 2021, French)
- Dimensions:Height: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Cirencester, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU509317112662

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