Here is an exciting tribute to the French painter, formerly unavoidable, which multiplied experiments and singularized by his extravagant and passionate personality. A nostalgic journey …
Back in grace for Georges Mathieu (1921-2012), an artist relatively forgotten today but who was able to mark his time by his overflowing creativity. This is evidenced by the varied sum of works gathered at La Monnaie de Paris, which currently pays him a superb tribute in collaboration with the Center Pompidou. « It must be remembered that he was everywhere in the mid -1970s », testifies Éric de Chassey, commissioner of the course with Christian Briend and Béatrice Coullaré, about this eminent representative of lyrical abstraction.
“To start in our pockets, since we owe him our old 10 franc piece. On television too: the acronym of antenna 2 was him. Without forgetting the 7 of gold trophy. It was also found on stamps, treasury bills, champagne labels, Air France posters, the dishes of the Élysée … “ Cite the land where this self -taught has never ventured would be almost simpler … « He was constantly looking to renew himself ”, confirm the experts.
Read too
After thirty years of absence, triumphant return of Georges Mathieu in New York
Pass advertising
Incomparable
Close by certain aspects of Salvador Dalí (mustache, dandy attracts, colorful vocabulary, sense of spectacle …), man loved excess. Demonstration with three imposing compositions – executed in the 1950s – so characteristic of its inimitable style. He delivered his vision there, all in spontaneous movements, of key events in the history of France. The presentation of The Battle of Bouvines, Denain’s victory et Capetians everywhere! constitutes a spectacular introduction. Where did this completely unbridled inspiration come from? The answer is not long. The section dedicated to the so-called limbes period evokes the influence of the German painter Wols (1913-1951). « Same technical means: spots, flows, projections ”, assured this independent and provocative spirit.
The proof with this new series of paintings giving pride of place to black graphics pierced with red bursts directly out of the tube. « Now, the artist is inspired for his titles of figures or episodes drawn from the medieval past of France, paradoxically reconnecting with a painting of history however discredited by criticism ”, Note Christian Briend. His personality is taking shape more and more. « He was a man of contradictions, continue the specialists. He was serious and full of humor, he was avant-garde and monarchist, he looked a lot what was going on around him, but took a critical eye on his contemporaries with the exception of Wols … “ The United States has not escaped its wrath. The story was, however, leaving under the best auspices. Messenger between the French and American scenes, this admirer of Pollock was able to seduce the great museums … before being rejected by the same a few years later. He will keep a deep bitterness.
The first Western Calligraph
André Malraux
Change of decor: figurative elements appear in his work for Air France. Same observation in front of his canvas entitled The Liberation of Orleans by Joan of Arc, one of a kind. This member of the Academy of Fine Arts similarly owned a pretty feather. Manuscripts reveal his incomparable writing, worthy of a drawing. « The first Western Calligraph », judged André Malraux. In the mid -1960s, geometric lines arose in his work. An appropriate style to describe the technical and industrial progress of the Thirty Glorious Years, immortalized by him on the reverse of the famous 10 franc play. And how to forget about his taste for television (“A prodigious tool” According to him), where he gladly staged? “He was the inventor of performance », conclude the organizers.
« Georges Mathieu. Gesture, speed, movement », Currency of Paris, Paris 6e.. Until September 7.
