Church Façade
n.d.
Piet Mondrian, imitator of Dutch, 1872-1944
Netherlands
The title, date and author of this drawing are all open to question. In 1969, the scholar Robert P. Welsh suggested that this sheet was linked to a series of compositions Mondrian made around 1914, based on the facade of a church in the town of Domburg, the Netherlands. This drawing has appeared in an exhibition at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1971, and was previously in the collections of artists Yves Tanguy (1900-1955) and Leon Kelly (born 1901). Nevertheless, 20th-century art-including works by Modigliani and Matisse, for example-has been a popular target of forgers, and Mondrian's authorship of this drawing will continue to be the subject of disagreement.
Charcoal, with erasing, on off-white laid paper