[Life Study for Kent House]

In preparation for his extravagant murals in public and private buildings around the world, the Catalan painter José María Sert often turned to photography as a means of studying and copying figures seen from daring perspectives. Gridded to help enlarge the forms to mural size, this photograph of Sert’s assistant Leonard Mancini likely served as a study for his murals at Kent House, London, in which figures seem to float high above the room like a heavenly vision.