Roger de La Fresnaye, “Artillery”, 1911, Oil on Canvas, 130 x 159 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Born in Le Mans, France, in July of 1885, Roger de La Fresnaye was a French painter who combined melodic colors with the geometric simplified forms of Cubism. He studied at several art 
schools in Paris, including the Ranson Academy, under painter Paul Ranson, and the École des Beaux-Arts. La Fresnaye, in his early works, experimented both with Symbolism, with its colorful shapes and dream=like quality, and also with Expressionism, which feature bold colors and swirling brushstrokes.
Around 1910, Roger de La Fresnaye began incorporating the more abstract style of Cubism into his work. In 1912, he became a member of the Section d”Or, a group of artists and dealers aimed at spreading the influence of the new art form of Cubism. Although La Fresnaye adopted the geometric emphasis of Cubism, he emphasized the use of color and retained some recognizable forms in his work. This was largely due to Robert Delaunay’s abstract style called Orphism, which its interplay of shapes, colors, and use of light.
Roger de La Fresnaye exhibited his works at the 1912 Salon de la Section d’Or, one of the more important shows of its time which featured more than two hundred Cubist works. He entered the French Army during World War One and was discharged in 1918 due to his contracting tuberculosis. La Frewnaye went to the south of France to recover, continuing to draw and paint in watercolor. However, he never recovered enough energy to undertake a sustained work load.
Although his paintings did much to popularize Cubism, Roger de La Fresnaye later abandoned the avant-garde and become one of France’s advocates of
traditional realism. He ceased painting in 1922 but continued to produce drawings. La Fresnaye’s death occurred in Grasse on the French Riviera in November of 1925 at the age of forty.
Roger de La Fresnaye’s 1911 “Artillery”was painted three years before the outbreak of World War One. It depicts officers on horseback accompanying a caisson, or ammunition wagon, transporting a field gun and three soldiers in helmets. A military band wearing the blue and red colors of the French infantry is in the background. La Fresnaye’s geometric rendering of the forms strengthens the composition, evoking the military group’s cadenced movement through the canvas’s space.
Top Insert Image: Roger de La Fresnaye, “Nature Morte à l’Oeuf”, 1910, Oil on Board on Panel, 66.2 x 50.9 cm, Private Collection
Second Insert Image: Roger de La Fresnaye, Le Malade Assis dans son Lit, 1922, Gouache and Graphite on Paper, Private Collection
Bottom Insert Image: Roger de La Fresnaye, “Alice au Grand Chapeau”, 1911, Oil on Canvas, 130.5 x 97 cm, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon