Pierre Soulages - Untitled - image-1
Pierre Soulages - Untitled - image-2
Pierre Soulages - Untitled - image-1Pierre Soulages - Untitled - image-2

Lot 507 D

Pierre Soulages - Untitled

Auction 1042 - overview Cologne
29.11.2014, 12:00 - Contemporary Art
Estimate: 120.000 € - 150.000 €
Result: 260.400 € (incl. premium)

Pierre Soulages

Untitled
1952

Gouache and India ink on paper on canvas. 65.5 x 50.5 cm. Framed under glass. Signed 'Soulages'. The canvas verso with a dedication as well as illegibly inscribed. - Minor traces of age.

'Since beginning to turn onwards abstract painting in the 1940s, the reproduction of light on the canvas is the central theme for the artist. (...) The early pictures from the second half of the 1940s to the mid-1950s are characterized by more or less broad lines, which are linked in brown and black paint diagonally, vertically and horizontally, placed on a light background, whereby the line direction sometimes goes from straight to slightly curved or semi-circle. (...) It is common in these and other pictures that the black to brown line and stroke compositions are painted against an off-white to light ochre background which is sometimes completely filled or covered by the width of the lines, or equally, features next to or between the lines. Both picture planes are therefore related as the lines, strokes and stripes of often nuanced colour density, applied with a course brush, allow the light background to shine through.' (Hermann Arnhold, in: Soulages, Lebendiges Licht. Malerei und die Fenster von Conques, exhib.cat. Westfälisches Landesmuseum Münster 1994/95, p.8).

This artistic concept is seen in the present work: the broad lines are applied in many layers, the deep blackness of which is broken up with only a small amount of brown paint in the background layers. These colour bars feature not only for their own valency, but fulfill the role of strengthening the light background, which protrudes as a source of light from the picture space. The empty spaces between the colour bars let the light through unchecked, the broad brushstrokes of various opaque colors furthermore enabling a differentiated light to shine through. The light background is therefore accentuated, giving the work a distinct optical lightness.

Catalogue Raisonné

The present work is to be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works on paper by Pierre Encrevé, Paris.

Certificate

With accompanying signed photo certificate from the artist dated 13.04.1996.

Exhibitions

Hannover 1960 (Kestner-Gesellschaft), Pierre Soulages, exhib.cat.no.39, therein dated 1955-1958 (with label verso).