Yves Tanguy

Pierre Matisse, New York (acquis de l'artiste)
Acquis du précédent par la famille de l'actuel propriétaire

Pierre Matisse, Yves Tanguy, Un recueil de ses œuvres, New York, 1963, no. 325, illustré p. 148
Patrick Waldberg, Yves Tanguy, Bruxelles, 1977, illustré p. 234

The canvas is not lined. There is a 2 cm horizontal line of intermittent minors spots of retouching in the lower right quadrant. Apart from 2 small dots of retouching, one along the left edge and one in the lower right quadrant, this work is in very good condition.
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'Forgotten Numbers', signed 'Tanguy' and dated '44' (lower right), oil on canvas. Painted in 1944.

Fig. 1, Yves Tanguy, Ma vie, blanche et noir, 1944, huile sur toile, Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

Peint en 1944 aux Etats-Unis où Tanguy s'est réfugié depuis le début de la guerre, L'Oubli des nombres est symptomatique du style évolué et mature de l'artiste. Peuplée de formes biomorphiques évocatrices, l'œuvre compte parmi les beaux exemples de compositions énigmatiques où l'imbrication des formes et des sens offrent un modèle de monde alternatif.

Un an après son arrivée aux Etats-Unis et son mariage avec l'artiste Kay Sage, le couple déménage à Woodbury, dans le Connecticut. A la périphérie de New York, Woodbury accueille une véritable colonie d'artistes au nombre desquels Alexandre Calder, André Masson, Julien Levy ou encore Gorky. Dans ce contexte d'émulation artistique, interactions et influences prospèrent. Ouverte à New York en 1935, la galerie Pierre Matisse canalise ces forces. Cette année là, dans la lettre qu'il adresse à celui qui fut son ancien camarade de classe, Tanguy écrit: "Peut-être vous vous souvenez vous encore de moi, du Lycée St Louis et de nos visites aux expositions d'alors... J'avais depuis longtemps l'intention de vous écrire. L'occasion d'une exposition m'a paru toute indiquée et c'est avec grand plaisir que j'évoque ces vieux souvenirs" (cité in Pierre Matisse, passeur passionné : un marchand d'art et ses artistes, Paris, 2005, p. 73). Quelques temps après, en novembre 1939, Tanguy allait donc devenir le premier Surréaliste à s'installer aux Etats-Unis. En décembre 1939, Pierre Matisse ne manquait pas lui consacrer une exposition personnelle avant de devenir, l'année suivante, son galeriste attitré aux Etats-Unis et le propriétaire de L'oubli des nombres. Quelques mois après la première exposition de Tanguy en sa terre d'accueil, Pierre Matisse avait raison d'écrire : "Il est un nouveau venu à la galerie et je vais recevoir sa production entière. Vous avez sans doute vu certains de ses tableaux à Paris, mais son œuvre postérieur est vraiment remarquable et je suis convaincu qu'il tiendra une place importante parmi les peintres de la génération d'après-guerre. Son nom est Tanguy [...]" (in Pierre Matisse and His Artists, New York, 2002, p. 86).

 

Painted in 1944 in the United States, where Tanguy had taken refuge at the beginning of the war, L'Oubli des nombres is emblematic of the artist's developed, mature style. Populated with evocative biomorphic forms, the work is one of the finest examples of Tanguy's enigmatic compositions where the overlapping of shapes and meanings offers a blueprint for an alternative world.

A year after his arrival in the United States and his marriage to the artist Kay Sage, the newlyweds moved to Woodbury, Connecticut. Located on the outskirts of New York, Woodbury played host to a veritable colony of artists, including Alexander Calder, André Masson, Julien Levy and Gorky. Within this context of intense artistic competition, interaction and influence flourished.  The Pierre Matisse Gallery, which opened in New York in 1935, channelled these productive forces. The same year, in a letter to a former classmate, Tanguy wrote: "Maybe you still remember me, and  the years we spent at the Lycée St Louis, and how we used to visit exhibitions together ... I've been meaning to write to you for a long time. It was the occasion of an exhibition that brought it all back to me, and it gives me such a great joy to recall those old memories." (cited in Pierre Matisse, passeur passionné: un marchand d'art et ses artistes, Paris, Hazan, 2005, p. 73).  Shortly afterwards, in November 1939, Tanguy would become  the first Surrealist to settle permanently in the United States. In December 1939, Pierre Matisse seized the opportunity to organise a solo exhibition in his honour and the following year he became his official art dealer in the United States, as well as the owner of L'Oubli des nombres. A few months after the first Tanguy exhibition in his adopted homeland, Pierre Matisse was moved to write: "He is a newcomer to the gallery and I will receive his entire output. You have doubtless have seen a number of his paintings in Paris, but his recent work is truly remarkable and I'm convinced he will hold an important position among the painters of the post-war generation. His name is Tanguy [...]." (in Pierre Matisse and His Artists, New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, 2002, p. 86).