Here are "Les joueurs de Rugby" (Rugby players), oil on canevas by André Lhote (1885-1962).
I'am afraid (no doubt... !!) that this great picture is not hanging at home... it was auctionned last May at Sotheby's New York : 2,546,500$... way, way above the auctioneer's estimates. And possibly the highest price ever for a rugby item ?
This wonderful artwork (large pic here) was painted in 1920 and first exhibited at "16eme salon d'automne" in Paris, 1923.
Interstingly, it comes out of a series of paintings dedicated to rugby... I've spotted two other versions : André Lhote painted this other rugby game in 1917... wartime opus... darker, and a bit more "cubist" in style... (exhibited in Musée de St Quentin, near Paris)
Lhote also donated this other cubist artwork - less interesting in my opinion - to French Musée d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou (large pic here).
If you're interested about these classy connections between rugby and modern art, you could also catch up with these older stories discussing Robert Delaunay's and Angel Zarraga's great sporting artwork.
PS : Tomorrow, France (Go! France, Go!) and USA will play the semi-final of FIFA Women's World Cup... here is a small tribute, displaying Angel Zarraga's "Las Futbolistas" (1922) and the cover of French newspaper "Le Petit Journal Illustré" by André Galland (1923)
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