Franciska Clausen

FRANCISKA CLAUSEN (Aabenraa, Denmark, 1899–1986).
Untitled, 1926.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Provenance: the artist’s family.
Measurements: 26.5 x 19.5 cm.

A work on paper created in 1926, in which Franciska Clausen develops a composition with strong geometric and constructive roots. The image is structured through overlapping planes, circles, rectangles, diagonals, and semicircular shapes, organized with a strong sense of rhythm and balance. The vivid use of color links the piece to the experimental spirit of the European avant-garde of the 1920s.

The composition reveals a clear interest in the relationship between form, color, and movement. The circular and linear elements suggest a mechanical and abstract space, where the forms seem to mesh within the plane. Dated 1926, the work belongs to a pivotal moment in Clausen’s career, coinciding with his years in Paris and his training at the Académie Moderne, directed by Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant. Her artistic language draws on Constructivism, Cubism, Purism, and geometric abstraction.

Franciska Clausen was one of the pioneering figures of the 20th-century Danish avant-garde. Trained in Germany, Denmark, and France, she studied at the Weimar School of Art—the precursor to the Bauhaus—and was a student of Alexander Archipenko, Hans Hofmann, László Moholy-Nagy, and Fernand Léger. In 1923, she participated in an exhibition in Berlin as a member of the Novembergruppe, and beginning in 1924, she became part of the avant-garde circles in Paris, associated with Léger, Ozenfant, and Cercle et Carré.

In 1926, the same year this work was created, her work was selected by Marcel Duchamp and Katherine Dreier for an exhibition organized by the Société Anonyme in New York, confirming her early international recognition. Her work is represented in institutions such as the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, Museum Sønderjylland / Brundlund Castle, and Fuglsang Kunstmuseum. Given its early date, its family provenance, and its connection to the artist’s most experimental period, this piece constitutes a particularly significant testament to the European avant-garde of the interwar period.