Jean Fautrier
27 Apr - 27 May 2006
JEAN FAUTRIER
From April 27 to May 27, 2006 (11 am – 7 pm)
Preview, Thursday April 27, 2006
Presentation of the exhibition by Michel Ragon at 7 pm
The Karsten Greve Gallery is presenting a remarkable selection of works by Jean Fautrier bringing together paintings from the Période noire (Black Period) dated 1926 and 1929, Informal paintings from the 1950’s as well as a group of bronze sculptures.
André Malraux was the first one to remark about the importance of Fautrier’s sculptures. From the 22 sculptures attributed to Fautrier today, the gallery will present a significant selection, notably Masque de jeune fille (1928), Les Yeux (1940), and L’otage (1943), which Malraux refers to as the key piece of the following Otages series of paintings.
Surely, one would immediately associate Jean Fautrier with this series of Otages paintings. The manner of thickly applied paint, the particular treatment of colour and drawing sets these Informel Oeuvres drastically apart from cubism and surrealism. The gallery is pleased to show such exquisite examples from this series as, Tête de partisan (1956), Tourbes (1959), Elément blanc (1956), and also Le Godet brun (1956), which Fautrier dedicates to the most humble objects.
Though the period, which was referred to as “black” by the artist and then by the critics, received only belated recognition. It is now widely recognised as a major movement in Fautrier’s work in its own right. Ties are also established with other great “painters of black” right up to the most contemporary period.
The drama of light and shade play in the paintings of 1926, according to the expression of the art critic André Berne-Joffroy, with their figures and landscapes that emerge out of the feeling of gloom. The light creates relief, while the outline drawing appears on the surface of the canvas. The French writer Jean Paulhan noted in his famous text, Fautrier the Enraged: “[...] No, black and white are not colours, but if he knows his craft well, a painter can make them into colours. It’s a task in which Fautrier excels, to the point where red and green themselves, in more than one canvas, are worth nothing more than allusion – as though by sympathy – to this black or this white [...]”.
The works presented in the gallery embody this subtle tension and are difficult to define. In the prodigious black nudes, the dark body recalling African art sculptures stands out with a white halo: a smooth figure without individual expression, it acquires a general character. Of the eight landscapes of existing mountains, Glacier is one of the most striking. The creviced glacial mass painted with touches of white appears as a Turnerian reminiscence and evokes the material of later works. Two works represent the still-life series: Hareng (Herring), which is more serene than the flayed animals of the same period, and Bouquet de fleurs (Bouquet of Flowers) with its evanescent colours.
For further information, please contact Eloïse Guénard at the gallery.
From April 27 to May 27, 2006 (11 am – 7 pm)
Preview, Thursday April 27, 2006
Presentation of the exhibition by Michel Ragon at 7 pm
The Karsten Greve Gallery is presenting a remarkable selection of works by Jean Fautrier bringing together paintings from the Période noire (Black Period) dated 1926 and 1929, Informal paintings from the 1950’s as well as a group of bronze sculptures.
André Malraux was the first one to remark about the importance of Fautrier’s sculptures. From the 22 sculptures attributed to Fautrier today, the gallery will present a significant selection, notably Masque de jeune fille (1928), Les Yeux (1940), and L’otage (1943), which Malraux refers to as the key piece of the following Otages series of paintings.
Surely, one would immediately associate Jean Fautrier with this series of Otages paintings. The manner of thickly applied paint, the particular treatment of colour and drawing sets these Informel Oeuvres drastically apart from cubism and surrealism. The gallery is pleased to show such exquisite examples from this series as, Tête de partisan (1956), Tourbes (1959), Elément blanc (1956), and also Le Godet brun (1956), which Fautrier dedicates to the most humble objects.
Though the period, which was referred to as “black” by the artist and then by the critics, received only belated recognition. It is now widely recognised as a major movement in Fautrier’s work in its own right. Ties are also established with other great “painters of black” right up to the most contemporary period.
The drama of light and shade play in the paintings of 1926, according to the expression of the art critic André Berne-Joffroy, with their figures and landscapes that emerge out of the feeling of gloom. The light creates relief, while the outline drawing appears on the surface of the canvas. The French writer Jean Paulhan noted in his famous text, Fautrier the Enraged: “[...] No, black and white are not colours, but if he knows his craft well, a painter can make them into colours. It’s a task in which Fautrier excels, to the point where red and green themselves, in more than one canvas, are worth nothing more than allusion – as though by sympathy – to this black or this white [...]”.
The works presented in the gallery embody this subtle tension and are difficult to define. In the prodigious black nudes, the dark body recalling African art sculptures stands out with a white halo: a smooth figure without individual expression, it acquires a general character. Of the eight landscapes of existing mountains, Glacier is one of the most striking. The creviced glacial mass painted with touches of white appears as a Turnerian reminiscence and evokes the material of later works. Two works represent the still-life series: Hareng (Herring), which is more serene than the flayed animals of the same period, and Bouquet de fleurs (Bouquet of Flowers) with its evanescent colours.
For further information, please contact Eloïse Guénard at the gallery.