Lot 96 D

''It is apparent that Leroy is not concerned with the ideological separation of figuration and abstraction. His motives are neither resolved by absolute unrepresentationalism nor are they specifically recognisable. The painted is only a resonance of the extra-pictorial. But precisely because of this, these works perhaps move closer to reality than Leroy's early tangible works. His nudes, portraits, landscapes or the man on the cross do not stand isolated for him, but are directly connected in their surroundings. For example the body contours of the women who actually stand before him while he is working are virtually embodied on the canvas. At the same time a diaphanous membrane appears as the separation between figure and the surrounding space. Human skin seems to lose its function as protection, the softness and vulnerability of the human body therefore finds its equivalent. There is no foreground or background and everything appears to us to be inseparably united. With the help of the paste-like painting, a material continuum arises in which the motive between air, light and the surrounding space is transcended.'' (Janna Oltmanns, in: Eugène Leroy, das Spätwerk, exhib.cat. Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, p.3).