Untitled (Group of Standing Figures)

In the October 16, 1962 edition of the Le Figaro, Paris, the renowned art critic Raymond Cogniat wrote: "Sadequain adds up the impression of space, density, volume and reality of matter, which transforms an abstract thought into a material fact..." Sadequain in his own words was primarily a figurative painter, who infused his works with allegorical significance. This painting dates from one of Sadequain's most critically acclaimed phases: the Blue and Ochre Period and is part of a 1963 series of paintings titled Group of Standing Figures. The ethereal, anthropomorphic shapes appear to merge into each other via a complex, intertwining maze of forms; and the scratched surface treatment, combined with transformed calligraphic imagery is similarly characteristic of the artist's style.