Michel Seuphor - Piet Mondrian in Paris

Michel Seuphor: Portrait of Piet Mondrian in Paris, 1929
Print from the 1980s, signed in ink by Seuphor. On the back: Stamp "Michel Seuphor - Photographie originale".
In 1929, Michel Seuphor - pseudonym for Ferdinand Louis Berckelaers (Borgerhout, March 10, 1901 - Paris, February 12, 1999) - co-founded the group Cercle Carré, which constitutes an important chapter in the history of the abstract avant-garde. Other participants were Piet Mondriaan, Kandinsky, Baumeister, Arp, Vantongerloo, Le Corbusier, Leger, etc. Long and noisy drinking parties were organized, including at Seuphor's home or in Mondriaan's studio. An exhibition was also organized, but it was not a success: 'no work sold, debts to the gallery, not a single favorable note in the Parisian press', Michel Seuphor recalled many years later. In addition to being a graphic artist and poet, Seuphor was also a photographer, he founded several magazines and wrote several standard works on abstract art, including a monumental biography of his good friend Piet Mondriaan.