LA FRESNAYE, ROGER DE

born July 11, 1885, Le Mans, Fr. died Nov. 27, 1925, Grasse French painter who attempted to synthesize lyrical colour with the rigorous formalism of Cubism. Although his paintings did much to popularize Cubism and to broaden its influence just prior to World War I, he later abandoned avant-garde art and became one of France's most influential advocates of traditional realism. La Fresnaye studied at the cole des Beaux-Arts and at the Ranson Academy in Paris. His work up to 1909 betrays the influence of the Symbolist paintings of Maurice Denis. During the next few years (191013) he developed an interest in Cubism. He became a member of the Cubist association known as the Section d'Or that met regularly at the studio of the painter Jacques Villon. Even at this early point, La Fresnaye's native sensitivity to colour gave his Cubism an unorthodox sensuousness. After being invalided out of the French army in 1917, he went to the south of France for his health. There he produced a number of Cubist watercolours and drawings that stress joyous colour and even romantic feeling. During the last years of his life, he began to paint such realistic works as Portrait of Guynemer (192123).