JOSEPH SIMA (1891-1971), JOSEF ŠIMA KNOWN AS LOCK, 1950 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right Countersigned and dated on the reverse Oil on canvas; signed and dated lower right; signed again and dated on the reverse 61 X 50 CM - 24 X 19 3/4 IN. PROVENANCE Galerie Mirador, Paris Private collection, France By descent to the present owner EXHIBITION Turin, Biennale, Les peintres d'aujourd'hui France-Italie, 1951, listed in the exhibition catalogue, n. p. In 1950, a few years after the Second World War - a period during which Joseph Sima had interrupted all painting activity - the artist of Czech origin, who had lived in France since 1921, moved into a modest flat near Porte d'Orléans in Paris. He had just returned from a stay in Slovakia, where he had rediscovered the landscapes of his childhood, sources of inspiration for many of his drawings. It was in this context that he began the series entitled Les Plaines de Brie (1950-1953), a cycle in which he revisited both the memories of this trip and the landscapes of Yèbles, in the Brie region. Écluse, an oil on canvas dated 1950, is part of this series marked by flattened perspectives, softened geometric shapes and a palette of azure and golden tones. The simplification of the volumes and the frontal aspect of the houses are reminiscent of another major work in his artistic career: Le Havre, painted in 1923. Here again, the houses with their cubist contours seem to float on the water's edge, while the two-dimensional view of the roofs evokes the small houses with orange roofs in the valley of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, so dear to Cézanne. As in Le Havre, Écluse is characterised by the total absence of organic elements: no trees, no grass, just water and architecture. These landscapes, detached from any tangible reality, are dreamlike - mental visions born of a recomposed memory. The transparency of the shapes and colours, and the almost 'traced' effect of superimposition, further accentuate this dreamlike atmosphere. Held in the same French collection since the 1960s, Écluse is an essential milestone in Sima's work. It reflects three fundamental axes of his approach: the presence of natural elements (air, earth, fire and water), the evocation of landscape, and the role of memory. The painting also marks a turning point for the artist, as she moves away from surrealism and gradually towards abstraction.