Hartung remained very close to him, and the two men would later form a solid trio of friends, along with Zao Wou-Ki. The chromatic simplicity of Soulages, combined with the fluidity of his shapes, therefore only earned him a few admirers in 1947 – but they were notable ones: Francis Picabia, Jean-Michel Atlan and Hans Hartung. And so on the one hand there was Herbin, and on the other, Bazaine or Manessier. But they were different because the kind of abstract works at the time were either strictly geometric, like Mondrian, or shimmering, if they arose from impressionism and fauvism. Not because they were nonfigurative indeed, the post-war period in France was characterized by an influx of abstract painting, which was largely ignored before 1939 and became the dominant fashion after 1945. The white, acting as light, infiltrated between them, seeming sometimes to erode them and at other times appearing to forge out a passage between them.Īt the time of their appearance, these works had little in common with what else was being painted. In oil, tar and walnut stain, on canvas, paper and glass, these lines crossed the surfaces, superimposing themselves and building a structure. They were drawn in broad, crossed lines, with browns, ochres and blacks as the only colors. Difficult critical receptionįrom 1947, having been rejected at the Salon d'Automne the previous year, Soulages exhibited abstract works at the Salon des Surindépendants. These movements, along with the construction of his villa and studio in Sète in 1959, are mentioned purely because they are rare known biographical details, other than those which are specific to his work and its metamorphoses. From 1957 to 1973, it was on rue Galande and then on rue Saint-Victor from spring 1974. Later, the studio moved closer to the Seine, without leaving the left bank. Paradoxically, he discovered the works of Max Ernst and Salvador Dali through the illustrations of a Nazi propaganda article against "degenerate art." Although he was hardly able to paint during this period, he became convinced that painting was what he could not live without.Īfter the Liberation of France, Pierre and Colette Soulages moved to the Paris suburb of Courbevoie in 1946, and then to 11 bis rue Schœlcher, near Montparnasse in Paris, where he lived from 1947 to 1957. Passing himself off as a farm worker with false papers to escape the compulsory labor service during the war, he became close to the writer Joseph Delteil and deepened his knowledge of modern art, which was lacking until then. Although the school in Montpellier left no more of an impression him than the one in Paris, he did make a decisive encounter there he met Colette Llaurens, his wife and inseparable alter ego from that moment until the end of their lives. He was conscripted in 1940 until the beginning of 1941, when he went to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier to learn how to teach drawing. A visit to the school convinced him that there was nothing there for him and nothing interested him as much as the exhibitions he saw in the Paul Rosenberg gallery, such as those by Cézanne and Picasso. Although he was successful, he decided not to go. Encounters with the artsĮncounters with the arts and the first landscapes he painted in 19 led him to come to Paris in 1938, and to prepare for the entrance exam to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris the following year. Visitors to his house in Paris were able to admire his collection of pre-Columbian pieces. More generally, he was interested in everything encompassed by the term "primitive" arts. Starting in 1987, he often returned to Conques to design and then position the church's stained glass windows. He also described how he spent time reflecting on reproductions of wash drawings by Claude Lorrain and Rembrandt in a book. Later in his life, Soulages would pick out certain moments from his childhood as revelatory, such as a 1931 school visit to the Sainte-Foy abbey in Conques in southern France, walks along the Causses plateaus around his native town, and learning about prehistory and the excavation of dolmens and caves. His father, who died in 1924, manufactured horse-drawn carriages. He was born on 24 December 1919 in Rodez (Aveyron) into a family of craftsmen. The artist died on October 26, 2022, aged 102. The life of Pierre Soulages merges so completely with his work that it doesn't fit well into narrative, except for a few episodes from his childhood and adolescence that he and his commentators have highlighted as significant. ObituaryThe artist, who put darkness into dialogue with light and gained international acclaim after a difficult critical start to his career, died on October 26, aged 102. Pierre Soulages, French artist who explored the depths of black, dies aged 102 By Philippe Dagen Published on October 26, 2022, at 4:12 pm (Paris), updated on October 26, 2022, at 7:43 pm
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