Henri Laurens

From 1899 to 1905, Laurens first completed an apprenticeship as a stonemason and worked on construction sites as an ornamental sculptor. At the same time, he created sculptures inspired by Auguste Rodin. In 1911, he joined the Montparnasse artists’ circle; by 1912, Georges Braque—with whom he shared a lifelong friendship—had introduced him to Synthetic Cubism. In 1913, he participated in the Salon des Indépendants in Paris for the first time. Three years later, he met Juan Gris, Amedeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso. Subsequently, until 1919, he created “still lifes and heads composed of cut-out, diagonally interlocking, painted planes of wood and metal,” some of which are reminiscent of African tribal masks.