André Lhote was a French Cubist painter, art critic, and teacher. The artist successfully combined the angular aesthetics of Cubism with the bright palette of Post-Impressionism in depicting landscapes, nudes, and still lifes. “To use color well is as difficult as for a fish to pass from water to air or earth,” he once mused. Born on July 5, 1885 in Bordeaux, France, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, initially influenced by the works of Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne. Lhote later fell into the influential Parisian milieu known as the Section d’Or, which included Marcel Duchamp, Jean Metzinger, and the poet Guillaume Apollinaire. His major works during this period include Cordes (1912) and Le Porte of Bordeaux (1914). After serving in the French army during World War I, Lhote began contributing articles to the Nouvelle Revue Française and founded his own painting school, instructing artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Margaret LaFranc. He was awarded the Grand Prix National de Peinture in 1955, and in 1957 the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris hosted a solo exhibition of his work. He died on January 24, 1962 in Paris, France. Today, Lhote’s works are included in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Albertina in Vienna, among others.