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拍品专文
Une ligne noire serpente sur la toile en circonvolutions qui dessinent des formes à la frontière entre figuration et abstraction. De cet entrelacs sinueux se dégagent des couleurs soigneusement choisies par l’artiste et caractéristiques de sa palette où les ocres viennent se juxtaposer aux bleus, aux verts, aux blancs lumineux qui animent le fond de la toile. Etroitement lié à l’intense créativité qui agite Paris dans l’immédiat après-guerre, Jean-Michel Atlan est un des protagonistes essentiels de cette scène artistique. Il explore en effet, dès les années 1940, la question du rythme et de la ligne, de l’équilibre entre le tracé et la couleur dont se dégage la notion de mouvement. Harlem II est à ce titre un très bel exemple de l’exploration sans cesse renouvelée de cette obsession chère au peintre et qui atteint sa pleine maturité à partir du milieu des années 1950. Peinte en 1958, cette toile appartient à ses tableaux dits “musicaux”. On y perçoit ainsi des instruments, les lignes des cordes qui structurent la composition et qui montrent à quel point l’artiste trouve sa voie dans une abstraction qui ne renie pas une prise directe avec le réel.
Si beaucoup d’artistes ont exploré la question du rapport entre musique et peinture, peu en revanche ont été autant fascinés par la problématique du rythme et de la sensation sonore que Jean-Michel Atlan. Chez lui, peindre prend l’aspect d’une danse et la toile devient ainsi la retranscription de la vibration causée par la musique. “Mes lignes de force m’auraient conduit, en un autre temps, à être sorcier ou danseur. [...] le besoin de rythme caractérise ma peinture. Ses formes sont dansantes ou guerrières. [...] Tout cela s’y mêle, s’y confond” explique-t-il. Cette exploration de la transe chamanique, des danses envoûtées où le rythme et la musique prennent possession du mouvement semble se retrouver particulièrement au cœur de Harlem II dans laquelle la ligne électrise la surface et fait - comme souvent chez l’artiste – écho à une toile de 1957, Harlem I, soulignant sa volonté d’approfondir de manière sérielle une thématique : “chacune de mes toiles diffère de la précédente, marquant des incursions inattendues dans des mondes à explorer. Je m’efforce toujours de reculer mes limites. Ma peinture est toujours ouverte.”
A black line snakes over the canvas in circumlocutions defining shapes on the borderline between the figurative and the abstract. Colours carefully chosen by the artist emerge from the sinuous curves so characteristic of his palette where ochres are juxtaposed with blues, greens and the luminous whites which animate the background of the painting. Breaking new ground – and also unjustly little known - Jean-Michel Atlan’s work is worthy of examination. Since the 1940s, the artist had in fact explored the question of rhythm, line and the balance between outline and colour from which the sense of movement emerges. In that respect, Harlem II is a fine example of the constantly renewed exploration of this obsession so dear to the painter which reached its full maturity in the mid-1950s. Painted in 1958, this canvas is one of what are known as his “musical” pictures. In it we can discern instruments, the lines of the chords which build the composition and show the extent to which the artist found his way in an abstraction which does not refuse direct contact with the real.
Although many artists have explored the relationship between music and painting, few were as fascinated by the problem of rhythm and the sensation of sound as Jean-Michel Atlan. For him, painting was like a dance. The canvas thus became a transcription of the vibration caused by the music. “In another age, my strengths might have led me to become a sorcerer or a dancer (… ) the need for rhythm characterises my painting. Its shapes dance or fight (…). Everything merges and mingles” he explains. This exploration of the shamanistic trance, of spellbound dances in which rhythm and music take possession of the movement seems especially evident in the heart of Harlem II where the line electrifies the surface and – as so often in Atlan’s work – echoes a canvas of 1957, Harlem I, emphasizing his desire to examine a particular subject in greater depth and in a series of works: “each of my canvases is different from its predecessor, marking unexpected incursions into worlds as yet unexplored. I seek constantly to push the boundaries. My painting is always open”.
Si beaucoup d’artistes ont exploré la question du rapport entre musique et peinture, peu en revanche ont été autant fascinés par la problématique du rythme et de la sensation sonore que Jean-Michel Atlan. Chez lui, peindre prend l’aspect d’une danse et la toile devient ainsi la retranscription de la vibration causée par la musique. “Mes lignes de force m’auraient conduit, en un autre temps, à être sorcier ou danseur. [...] le besoin de rythme caractérise ma peinture. Ses formes sont dansantes ou guerrières. [...] Tout cela s’y mêle, s’y confond” explique-t-il. Cette exploration de la transe chamanique, des danses envoûtées où le rythme et la musique prennent possession du mouvement semble se retrouver particulièrement au cœur de Harlem II dans laquelle la ligne électrise la surface et fait - comme souvent chez l’artiste – écho à une toile de 1957, Harlem I, soulignant sa volonté d’approfondir de manière sérielle une thématique : “chacune de mes toiles diffère de la précédente, marquant des incursions inattendues dans des mondes à explorer. Je m’efforce toujours de reculer mes limites. Ma peinture est toujours ouverte.”
A black line snakes over the canvas in circumlocutions defining shapes on the borderline between the figurative and the abstract. Colours carefully chosen by the artist emerge from the sinuous curves so characteristic of his palette where ochres are juxtaposed with blues, greens and the luminous whites which animate the background of the painting. Breaking new ground – and also unjustly little known - Jean-Michel Atlan’s work is worthy of examination. Since the 1940s, the artist had in fact explored the question of rhythm, line and the balance between outline and colour from which the sense of movement emerges. In that respect, Harlem II is a fine example of the constantly renewed exploration of this obsession so dear to the painter which reached its full maturity in the mid-1950s. Painted in 1958, this canvas is one of what are known as his “musical” pictures. In it we can discern instruments, the lines of the chords which build the composition and show the extent to which the artist found his way in an abstraction which does not refuse direct contact with the real.
Although many artists have explored the relationship between music and painting, few were as fascinated by the problem of rhythm and the sensation of sound as Jean-Michel Atlan. For him, painting was like a dance. The canvas thus became a transcription of the vibration caused by the music. “In another age, my strengths might have led me to become a sorcerer or a dancer (… ) the need for rhythm characterises my painting. Its shapes dance or fight (…). Everything merges and mingles” he explains. This exploration of the shamanistic trance, of spellbound dances in which rhythm and music take possession of the movement seems especially evident in the heart of Harlem II where the line electrifies the surface and – as so often in Atlan’s work – echoes a canvas of 1957, Harlem I, emphasizing his desire to examine a particular subject in greater depth and in a series of works: “each of my canvases is different from its predecessor, marking unexpected incursions into worlds as yet unexplored. I seek constantly to push the boundaries. My painting is always open”.