GUSTAVE MIKLOS
This is a preparatory study for the sculptures also known as ‘Cubist Towers’.
H 90 1/2 - W 19 1/4 in.
A key figure of the Art Deco movement, Gustave Miklos was both painter and sculptor, known for his elegant, stylized forms influenced by Cubism and Byzantine art.
After studying at the Royal School of Decorative Arts in Budapest and at the Munich Academy, he moved to Paris in 1909, joining the vibrant creative community of La Ruche with his friend Joseph Csaky. Immersed in the avant-garde, he attended La Palette Academy under Henri Le Fauconnier and drew inspiration from Jean Metzinger. By 1911, his work embraced the Cubist vocabulary, which shaped his mature style.
World War I took Miklos across North Africa, Greece, and Macedonia—journeys that profoundly affected his palette and materials, awakening his fascination with enamel, gold, and turquoise. Returning to Paris in 1919, he expanded from painting into enamel, lacquer, and bronze sculpture. Collaborations with Jean Dunand and the engraver F.-L. Schmied reflected his interest in craftsmanship and decorative arts.
Supported by collectors such as Jacques Doucet and Léonce Rosenberg, Miklos exhibited independently from 1923 and contributed to major Art Deco projects, including the Ambassade Française pavilion at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs. A founding member of the Union des Artistes Modernes (U.A.M.), he regularly participated in their exhibitions.
From the mid-1930s, Miklos turned to monumental and allegorical compositions, before settling in Oyonnax during World War II, where he taught drawing until his death in 1967.
His work remains emblematic of the synthesis between Cubist geometry and Art Deco refinement, bridging the boundaries between fine art and decorative creation.
Provenance
Gerolamo Etro's Collection, London, 2025The two preparatory drawings by Gustave Miklos for the Cubist Towers fully embody the spirit of experimentation that characterized Cubism in the 1910s. Like artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris, Miklos does not seek to faithfully represent a building, but rather to analyze its fundamental components: space, mass, and volume.
In these studies, the tower is no longer a recognizable architectural object in the traditional sense. It becomes a mental construction, developed from interlocking geometric planes and simplified forms. The dominant vertical elements structure the composition, while cutouts, overlaps, and variations in texture and color suggest a fragmentation of reality. This approach reflects a desire to move beyond mere representation in order to achieve a form of formal synthesis, where each element contributes to a unified whole.
Miklos thus appears to be experimenting with a translation of the Cubist language into a mode closer to the decorative arts, already anticipating the aesthetic directions of Art Deco.
Exhibitions
Galerie L'Enseigne du Cerceau, October 25 to November 30, 1972, 'Gustave Miklos, sculpteur 1888-1967'Literature
Victor Arwas, ‘Art Deco’, New York, 1980, p. 177, for the sculpture illustrated
Félix Marcilhac, ‘Gustave Miklos, Joseph Csaky’, Budapest, 2010, p. 3 for the sculpture illustrated
Danuta Cichocka, ‘Gustave Miklos : Volume II, Le moderniste byzantin’, Paris, 2014, pp. 40-41, no. S21A for the preparatory drawing
Alastair Duncan, ‘Art Deco Sculpture’, New York, 2016, p. 102 for the sculpture illustrated