ƒ LOUIS SOUTTER (Swiss, 1871-1942) STRENGTH OF THE ANGEL, 1925 Pencil on paper Titled lower right Pencil on paper; titled lower right 26,5 X 21 CM - 10 3/8 X 8 1/4 IN.This drawing was conceived as a project for the decoration of the Federal Tribunal in Lausanne, according to the competition opened in 1925 PROVENANCE Collection J. and P. Meyrat-Laverrière, Lausanne Galerie Aubry, Morges Collection of Mr and Mrs G., Switzerland EXHIBITION Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Louis Soutter, 2 February - 2 April 1990, reproduced and described on p. 124 of the exhibition catalogue BIBLIOGRAPHY Anne-Marie Simond, Michel Thévoz, Louis Soutter : Crayon, plume & encre de Chine, Éditions du Héron, Lausanne : 2002, reproduced and described p. 72 Michel Thévoz, Louis Soutter: catalogue raisonné, Vol. 2, L'Âge d'homme, Institut suisse pour l'étude de l'art, Lausanne, Zürich, 1974-1975, reproduced and described on p. 132 under no. 1068 "Drawing was Soutter's main activity from the moment he entered Ballaigues, although in his letters and in his words he considered music to be his exclusive vocation (...) He drew constantly, of course, but as if by an irrepressible and almost obsessive impulse, without really giving his works any expressive value. He confided to someone he knew that he drew to exercise the suppleness of his violinist's wrists and that, for this reason, he forced himself to use his left hand as well. He used any medium he could find: wrapping paper, envelopes that he peeled off to use the back, and above all school exercise books that he bought for a few pennies or on credit at the village grocery shop. Soutter had no money, and no one took his drawings seriously. When he ran out of ink, he went to the post office to draw, until he was forbidden entry: the postman ended up receiving a letter from the regional administration expressing surprise that the small commune of Ballaigues was the biggest consumer of ink in the whole district." Michel Thévoz, Louis Souter: catalogue raisonné, Vol. 2, L'Âge d'homme, Institut suisse pour l'étude de l'art, Lausanne, Zürich: 1974-1975, p. 40.