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拍品專文
Si l'œuvre de Louis Soutter reste encore méconnu du grand public et a longtemps, à tort, été assimilé à l’Art brut, il n’en est pas moins fascinant et fait preuve d’une modernité radicale. Après avoir étudié l’architecture à Lausanne, le violon à Bruxelles - auprès du compositeur et violoniste virtuose Eugène Ysaye - l'artiste rentre à Lausanne pour suivre des cours de dessin. Vers 1897, il émigre aux Etats-Unis et s’installe à Colorado Springs, ville natale de son épouse Madge, qu’il avait rencontrée à Bruxelles. Soutter y enseigne la musique et est nommé à la tête du département d’art de l’université du Colorado, jusqu’à son divorce en 1903. Il rentre alors en Suisse - son état de santé physique et psychique décline - et se produit dans différents orchestres jusqu’en 1923, année où il est placé dans une maison de retraite, à Ballaigues, lieu qu’il ne quittera plus jamais. Soutter a alors cinquante-deux ans et se retrouve presque coupé du monde; son œuvre qui était jusqu'alors relativement académique, gagne en puissance et en radicalité pour aboutir, dans les dernières années de sa vie - entre 1937 et 1942 - aux « peintures aux doigts ». Sa santé et sa vue s’étant détériorées encore, il utilise ses doigts avec audace et énergie en les trempant directement dans l’huile, l’encre ou encore la gouache et trace sur le papier, presque à la manière des peintres rupestres, des compositions qui représentent principalement des silhouettes sombres et longilignes. Son langage plastique gagne en force et prend une tournure tantôt énigmatique voire inquiétante - avec Avant le massacre (lot 19) - tantôt plus mystique avec L’ascension qui en est un exemple majeur.
Son travail a longtemps été ignoré de l’Histoire de l’art du XXe siècle, malgré les efforts de son cousin, Le Corbusier, qui le fournit en matériel à dessin et qui promeut son travail l'aidant à organiser des expositions aux Etats-Unis en 1936 et à la galerie des frères Vallotton en 1937. En 1939, le Museum of Modern Art achète cinq de ses œuvres suite à une exposition à New York.
While the work of Louis Soutter is still little known to the general public, and has unjustly, been categorised as Art brut ( “outsider art”), it is no less fascinating for that thanks to its radical modernity. After studying architecture in Lausanne and the violin in Brussels with the composer and virtuoso violinist Eugène Ysaye, the artist returned to Lausanne to study art. Around 1897, he emigrated to the United States and settled in Colorado Springs, the home town of his wife Madge, whom he had met in Brussels. Soutter taught music there and was appointed head of the art department at the University of Colorado where he worked until his divorce in 1903. He then returned to Switzerland – his physical and mental health were deteriorating – and performed in various orchestras until 1923, when he was placed in a retirement home at Ballaigues, where he would spend the rest of his life. Soutter was then 52 years old and found himself almost cut off from the world; his work, which had been relatively academic, became more powerful and radical, leading, in the last years of his life - between 1937 and 1942 – to the “finger paintings”. His health and sight having further deteriorated, he used his fingers with audacity and energ - dipping them directly into the oil paint, ink or gouache, and drawing on the paper, in almost the same way as cave painters - compositions that mainly depict dark, slender, elongated figures. His visual language became more powerful and took on a rather enigmatic, indeed disturbing, appearance, as in Avant le massacre (Lot 19), and the rather more mystical, L’ascension which is an important example of this technique.
For many years, Soutter's work was largely ignored by historians of 20th Century art, despite of the efforts of his cousin, Le Corbusier, who supplied him with art materials and promoted his work by helping to organise exhibitions in the United States in 1936 and at the Vallotton brothers’ gallery in 1937. In 1939, the Museum of Modern Art acquired five of his works following an exhibition in New York.
Son travail a longtemps été ignoré de l’Histoire de l’art du XXe siècle, malgré les efforts de son cousin, Le Corbusier, qui le fournit en matériel à dessin et qui promeut son travail l'aidant à organiser des expositions aux Etats-Unis en 1936 et à la galerie des frères Vallotton en 1937. En 1939, le Museum of Modern Art achète cinq de ses œuvres suite à une exposition à New York.
While the work of Louis Soutter is still little known to the general public, and has unjustly, been categorised as Art brut ( “outsider art”), it is no less fascinating for that thanks to its radical modernity. After studying architecture in Lausanne and the violin in Brussels with the composer and virtuoso violinist Eugène Ysaye, the artist returned to Lausanne to study art. Around 1897, he emigrated to the United States and settled in Colorado Springs, the home town of his wife Madge, whom he had met in Brussels. Soutter taught music there and was appointed head of the art department at the University of Colorado where he worked until his divorce in 1903. He then returned to Switzerland – his physical and mental health were deteriorating – and performed in various orchestras until 1923, when he was placed in a retirement home at Ballaigues, where he would spend the rest of his life. Soutter was then 52 years old and found himself almost cut off from the world; his work, which had been relatively academic, became more powerful and radical, leading, in the last years of his life - between 1937 and 1942 – to the “finger paintings”. His health and sight having further deteriorated, he used his fingers with audacity and energ - dipping them directly into the oil paint, ink or gouache, and drawing on the paper, in almost the same way as cave painters - compositions that mainly depict dark, slender, elongated figures. His visual language became more powerful and took on a rather enigmatic, indeed disturbing, appearance, as in Avant le massacre (Lot 19), and the rather more mystical, L’ascension which is an important example of this technique.
For many years, Soutter's work was largely ignored by historians of 20th Century art, despite of the efforts of his cousin, Le Corbusier, who supplied him with art materials and promoted his work by helping to organise exhibitions in the United States in 1936 and at the Vallotton brothers’ gallery in 1937. In 1939, the Museum of Modern Art acquired five of his works following an exhibition in New York.