.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Dans une expérimentation existentialiste de la peinture, Jean Fautrier n'a de cesse de concevoir de nouvelles solutions plastiques, engendrées par le dialogue fructueux de la 'matière' et du dessin, solidaires et indissociables éléments de ses compositions 'informelles'. Il conçoit alors la peinture comme 'une chose qui ne peut que se détruire, qui doit se détruire, pour se réinventer' (J. Fautrier, 'parallelen zur neuen Malerei', Blätter + Bilder, No. 1, Vienne, mars-avril 1959, pp. 54-56). Le visage de l'homme, Les arbres et L'orange coupée illustrent la technique innovante des 'Originaux multiples' réalisés, de 1949 à 1954, avec son épouse Jeanine Aeply, après l'insuccès de La cruche blanche, dont les reproductions Aeply - réputées pour leur fidélité - avaient pourtant suscité l'engouement du public. S'inspirant de l'estampe, ce procédé permet l'élaboration méthodique de tableaux en 'série' : plusieurs impressions lithographiques sont appliquées sur un épais papier marouflé sur toile et badigeonné d'encre. Comme en témoigne Le visage de l'homme, Fautrier appose sa marque par le rehaut au couteau d'un épais enduit et le saupoudrage de pastels et pigments broyés au travers d'une gaze. Par ses 'Originaux multiples', l'artiste prétend au primat de 'la qualité de la sensibilité de l'artiste' sur l'individualité de l'oeuvre.
In an existentialist experimentation with paint, Jean Fautrier constantly explored new artistic solutions generated by the fruitful dialogue between the 'material' and the 'design' - integral and inseparable elements of his 'informal' compositions. He approached painting as 'a thing which can only destroy itself, which must destroy itself, in order to reinvent itself' (J. Fautrier, 'Parallelezen zur Neuen Malerei', Bältter + Bilder, No. 1, Vienna, March-April 1959, pp. 54-56). Le Visage de l'Homme, Les Arbres and L'Orange Coupée illustrate the innovative technique of 'multiple originals' created between 1949 and 1954 with his wife Jeanine Aeply. These followed the failure of La Cruche Blanche, although the high-quality Aeply reproductions of it proved very popular with the public. The 'multiple originals' technique was inspired by art printing, a procedure allowing the methodical 'mass' reproduction of paintings: several lithographic imprints are applied to a thick paper stuck onto canvas and given an ink wash. As demonstrated in Le Visage de l'Homme, Fautrier makes his mark by applying additional layers thickly with a knife and sprinkling with ground pastels and pigments through a gauze. The artist claimed that these 'multiple originals' allowed the 'quality of the artist's sensibility' (op. cit.) to
In an existentialist experimentation with paint, Jean Fautrier constantly explored new artistic solutions generated by the fruitful dialogue between the 'material' and the 'design' - integral and inseparable elements of his 'informal' compositions. He approached painting as 'a thing which can only destroy itself, which must destroy itself, in order to reinvent itself' (J. Fautrier, 'Parallelezen zur Neuen Malerei', Bältter + Bilder, No. 1, Vienna, March-April 1959, pp. 54-56). Le Visage de l'Homme, Les Arbres and L'Orange Coupée illustrate the innovative technique of 'multiple originals' created between 1949 and 1954 with his wife Jeanine Aeply. These followed the failure of La Cruche Blanche, although the high-quality Aeply reproductions of it proved very popular with the public. The 'multiple originals' technique was inspired by art printing, a procedure allowing the methodical 'mass' reproduction of paintings: several lithographic imprints are applied to a thick paper stuck onto canvas and given an ink wash. As demonstrated in Le Visage de l'Homme, Fautrier makes his mark by applying additional layers thickly with a knife and sprinkling with ground pastels and pigments through a gauze. The artist claimed that these 'multiple originals' allowed the 'quality of the artist's sensibility' (op. cit.) to