Leon Schulman Gaspard (1882-1964)
Canton
signed, titled and dated 'Leon Gaspard / Canton 1926' (lower left)
oil on canvasboard laid to panel
20 1/4 x 30 in.
framed 28 x 37 1/2 in.
Footnotes:
Provenance
Thomas Nygard, Inc., Bozeman, Montana.
Private collection, California, from the above.

Leon Gaspard was an intrepid world traveler and made his first visit to Asia in 1921. He was briefly in Canton (Guangzhou), but the focus of that trip was a trek by horseback from Peking (Beijing) to Mongolia across the Gobi Desert. On the second trip five years later when the present work Canton was executed, Gaspard explored the bustling city situated along the Pearl River. In Canton, figures carry a man in an elegantly decorated litter through a crowded truncated foreground street, situated along a green river. Floating houseboats fill most of the water, jammed together in the tight space. The upper half of the scene is almost entirely composed of a chaotic wall of tenement buildings with their haphazard porches and rooflines. Small areas of hazy sky peak out above the roofs. Gaspard's signature actively dynamic compositional style, with intentionally abbreviated brushwork, and a rich color palette, is on full display here, giving the viewer a sense the density and daily activity of this crowded city.

Oil on canvas laid to a 1 1/4 in. wooden panel. Edge wear throughout and a loss upper left and another loss right upper center edges. Under UV light examination, no evidence of retouch. No further condition issues to report.

In a gilt over red clay bole and gesso molded frame.