VICTOR DI GESU

(American, 1914-1988)

RECLINING NUDE IN INTERIOR

Oil on Artists Paper laid down on Board

19 x 23 Inches

Signed and Dated ‘56 Lower Right

This California figural painter and Abstract Expressionist was born in Maryland in 1915 and first attended the Chouinard Art Center in Los Angeles before moving to Paris where he studied with Andre L’Hote at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. Di Gesu subsequently attended the Escuela de Belles Artes in Barcelona before furthering his studies in Italy. After this exposure to the ferment of European artistic movements, Di Gesu returned to California, and worked with a variety of artists including F.Tolles Chamberlain and Maynard Jepson. He was an intuitive colorist whose classical training and additional research into Modernist color theory enabled him to create vivid yet harmonious works which, though reminiscent of Matisse, retained an originality and spontaneity that was uniquely his own. Di Gesu was a prolific artist and the recipient of numerous medals and awards, both in the United States and France. He exhibited widely and with much success including at The Louvre Museum (Paris); the Exposition des Artistes Etrangeres, (Paris); The San Francisco Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum. We are pleased to offer a vibrant and lyrical nude by this notable California Modernist.