Georges MATHIEU Explosion, circa 1987

Biography

Georges MATHIEU (1921-2012)

Georges Victor Mathieu d’Escaudœuvres, says Georges Mathieu, born January 27, 1921 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, is a French artist considered as one of the fathers of lyrical abstraction. Born into a family of bankers, Georges Mathieu first turned to studies in law, literature and philosophy. From 1942, he decided to turn to the plastic arts. In 1947, he exhibited, at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, canvas with a texture made of spots directly from the tube (claiming the authorship of “Dripping” technique attributed to Jackson Pollock in 1943 or Max Ernst in 1942), the colors being, in the case of Mathieu, crushed by the finger of the artist. From 1950, he exhibited in the United States and Japan. From 1954, he created a multitude of paintings, often during happenings or performances timed before an audience, which highlight the speed and spontaneity of the gesture. Thus, in 1956 at the Sarah Bernhardt Theater in Paris, Mathieu, in front of nearly 2000 spectators, creates a painting of 4 x 12 meters by using no less than 800 tubes of paint. He was editor of the United States Lines Paris Review from 1953 to 1962. In 1963, year of the Great Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, he finally reached the official consecration. His late painted work (from 1980) shows a new maturity where he breaks with the last vestiges of classicism and abandons the central figure at the same time as his palette is wider. One of his monumental paintings, The Capetians everywhere, painted in 1954, was acquired by the Center Georges Pompidou. Air France orders several paintings that will illustrate an advertising campaign. He also draws plans for the Fontenay-le-Comte star factory in Vendée. The label of Château Mouton Rothschild 1961 bears his signature. It is also illustrated by drawing the coin (which circulated from 1974 to 1987) common 10 francs. It was filmed by Frédéric Rossif painting two canvases, with a text by François Billetdoux and a music by Vangelis, in a documentary called Georges Mathieu or the fury of being. He published in 1963 Beyond Tachism, and his book of 1967, The Privilege to be of Georges Mathieu, was reissued in 2006 to the editions Complicities [6]. This text is accompanied by an unpublished interview of Georges Mathieu dated December 2005.

PUBLICATIONS :
– 1963. Au-delà du Tachisme, Ed. Julliard, Paris.
– 1967. Le Privilège d’être, Ed. Robert Morel, Paris.
– 1973. De la révolte à la renaissance, Ed. Gallimard, Paris.
– 1975. La Réponse de l’Abstraction lyrique, Ed. La Table Ronde, Paris.
– 1976. Notice sur la vie et les travaux d’Alfred Giess, Institut de France, Paris.
– 1984. L’Abstraction prophètique, Ed. Gallimard.
– 1994. Le Massacre de la sensibilité, Ed. Jean Picollec, Paris.
– 1998. Désormais seul en face de Dieu, Ed. l’Age de l’Homme.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
– Mathieu, F. Mathey, Ed. Hachette, Paris, 1969.
– Discours prononcé par Louis Leygue, lors de l’installation de Georges Mathieu le 28 janvier 1976, Institut de France.
– Mathieu, D. Quignon-Fleuret, Ed. Flammarion, Paris, 1977.
– Georges Mathieu e la poetica del signa, M.R. Laurenda et Mioni, Ed. Universitaria degli Studi di Padova, Padoue, 1976-1977.
– L’Oeuvre pictural de Georges Mathieu, G. Xuriguéra, Ed. Palais des Papes, Avignon, 1985.
– Préfaces de G. Xuriguéra et P. Dehaye in Jalons de l’Abstraction lyrique de Georges Mathieu, Ed. Sapone, Nice, 1987.
– Mathieu, introduction de R. Barilli, Ed. Sapone, Nice, 1987.
– Mathieu, oeuvres récentes, G. Xuriguéra, Ed. Guy Peters Gallery, Bruxelles, 1991.
– Georges Mathieu, G. Dorfles, Ed. Electra, Milan, 1991.
– Mathieu, P. Grainville et F. Poiret, Château-Musée de Boulogne sur Mer, 1992.
– Mathieu, P. Grainville et G. Xuriguéra, Nouvelles Editions Françaises, Paris, 1993.
– 1995. Autour de la Bataille de Hastings, catalogue de l’exposition de Toulouse.
– in – Who’s who in France 1993-1994, Ed. Jacques Lafitte, Paris, 1993.
– L’Art : Arme des âmes, P. Dehaye, Ed. Promothéa, Toulon, 1994.
– Mathieu, 50 ans de création, Editions Hervas, Paris, 2003.

FILMOGRAPHY :
-1954. La Bataille de Bouvines, R. Descharnes.
-1956. Le Couronnement de Charlemagne, R. Descharnes.
-1959. La Saint-Barthélémy, O.R.T.F. productions.
-1959. Hommage au Connétable de Bourbon, A. Rainer.
-1961. Georges Mathieu, J. Mousseau et J. Feller.
-1965. Paris, capitale des arts, O.R.T.F. prod.
-1967. Georges Mathieu, F. Warin.
-1968. Georges Mathieu, P. Lhoste et G. Roze.
-1971. Georges Mathieu, L. Thorn.
-1979. A la recherche de Georges Mathieu, D. Lecomte.
-1986. Georges Mathieu, P. Ducrest.
-1992. Spectacle son et lumière donné en août 1992 dans la cour du Château de Boulogne sur Mer, Th. Choumitzky.

MUSEUM :

En France :
Musée Picasso, Antibes (Var), Mairie de Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Musée d’Unterlinden, Colmar (Haut-Rhin), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon (Côte d’Or), Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture, Grenoble (Isère), Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille (Nord), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon (Rhône), Maison de la Radio, Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris.
A l’Etranger :
Musée Bezalel, (Jérusalem), Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, (Rome), Musée d’Art Moderne, (Tokyo), Fondation Peter Stuyvesant, (Amsterdam), Tate Gallery, (Londres), Museum of Fine Arts, (Houston – U.S.A.), Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, (New York).

EXHIBITIONS :
– Court Gallery, Copenhague, Septembre 1965
– Galerie Bleue, Stockholm, Octobre 1965
– Galerie K.B., Oslo, Novembre 1965
– Art Council of Northen Ireland, 12 Novembre – 6 Décembre 1969, Belfast.

Explosion, circa 1987

Oil on canvas
Réf. 5983
DIMENSIONS :
– 81 cm x 100 cm (108 x 127 cm including frame)
– 32 in. x 39 in. (42.5 in. x 50 in. including frame)
PRICE : Sold

Signed lower right

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