Lot 184
  • 184

Pierre Soulages

Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 GBP
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Description

  • Pierre Soulages
  • Peinture, 27 Novembre 1969
  • signed; titled and dated 27 Nov. 69 on the reverse
  • oil on canvas
  • 161.5 by 130cm.; 63 1/2 by 51 1/4 in.

Provenance

Gulf Oil Company Collection, Pittsburgh
Chevron Corporation Collection, Pittsburgh
Sale: Christie's, London, Contemporary Art, 20 February 1988, Lot 21
Jose Mugrabi Tessone Collection, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Post-War and Contemporary Art, 26 October 1989, Lot 355
Private Collection, London
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art, 8 February 2007, Lot 141
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited

Dublin, Royal Dublin Society, ROSC, 1971
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh Corporations Collection, 1975-76

Literature

James Johnson Sweeney, Soulages, Neuchatel 1972, p. 170, no. 115, illustrated
James Johnson Sweeney and Pierre Daix, Pierre Soulages, Neuchatel 1991, n.p., illustrated
Pierre Encreve, Soulages: L'Oeuvre Complet Peintures, Vol. II. 1959-1978, Paris 1995, p. 225, no. 642, illustrated in colour

Condition

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is warmer and and there is greater contrast in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals some extremely light handling marks and fine and unobtrusive tension cracks running intermittently along the extreme outer edges. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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Catalogue Note

“It is neither black nor white. It is the black/white contrast. Black, in these paintings, once again plays its role as a colour, whereas in other instances it is only present as a support for luminous reflections.” 

PIERRE SOULAGES
In conversation with Jean Pierrard, “Pierre Soulages: Les Eclats de Noir”, Le Point, Paris 2003, n.p.

Peinture, 27 Novembre 1969 is a consummate example of a radical shift in Soulages distinguished practice: a transitional series which started only a month earlier with Peinture 130 x 162 cm, 19 Octobre 1969, now in the collection of the Salvador Allende Museum in Santiago, Chile. With their crisp achromatic palette and elegant curvilinear bows, the works from this instantly recognisable series – all executed between 1969 and 1970 – embody a crucial transition between his earlier works, which are looser, more painterly and expressive, and his later works, which are more confidently rigorous and graphic.

Looking back on this characteristic and compelling body of work, Catherine Millet asked Pierre Soulages: "What does a painter look for in black and white?” The artist replied: "Black is the colour that is most opposed to everything that surrounds it. A black and white picture has nothing to do with its natural environment, which is always colourful". (Pierre Soulages in conversation with Catherine Millet, translated from “Pierre Soulages: La Peinture au Présent”, Art-Press, no. 34, Paris February 1980, n.p.)

The vigorous movement of the artist is revealed by subtle splatters of black paint, which perforate the otherwise smooth and balletic picture plane. The resulting tension of energy and coolness, gestural and graphic, action and inaction, gloriously echoes Soulages Asian influences. The artist’s first trip to Japan in 1958, when he discovered Zen philosophy and Japanese calligraphy, had a lasting impact on his artistic vision, as evident in Peinture, 27 Novembre 1969. Displaying a remarkably eloquent and lyrical composition, its musicality further accentuated by the formal resemblance to the design of an eight note triplet, Peinture, 27 November 1969 stands splendidly at the most important crossroad in the French master of abstraction’s illustrious practice.