Georges Mathieu

Previous owner: Galerie Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Paris; private collection, Paris; Tajan, Paris, 2004
Acquisition: Reinhard Ernst Collection, Artcurial, Paris, 2011

Solo exhibition:
1974
‘Mathieu – œuvres anciennes, 1948–1960’, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France

A rhythmic network of white and red lines covers the black coloured canvas. Some of the paint was applied directly from the tube, thrown or sprayed. The calligraphic play of lines is reminiscent of East Asian ink painting. Within the context of the École de Paris, Georges Mathieu is a central figure of the encounter between East and West. His particular interpretation of East Asian calligraphy is still artistically influential today: emptiness, concentration and rapid action underpin the spontaneity of the painter’s expression of his emotions. This was the only way he could express his inner life to the outside world. The speed inherent in his creative process also links Mathieu’s painting with American action painting. He is regarded as one of the first European artists to take an interest in the development of painting in America and familiarised himself with the American avant-garde during a trip to New York. With his help, Jackson Pollock was exhibited in Paris for the first time in 1952.

From 1954 onwards, Georges Mathieu painted on a stage and presented the act of painting as a performance: his rapid, almost dance-like movements and leaps in front of large-format canvases were carried out in front of an audience. Mathieu said he studied historical battles intensively and brought this to his work. Accordingly, many of the titles of his works refer to battles and the generals who fell in them including the painting in the Reinhard Ernst Collection which captures the death of the Connétable of Bourbon in Mathieu’s abstract visual language.