Corneille (Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo)

Sale: Ader Tajan, Paris, 11 April 1994, lot 23
Purchased by the present owner in 1995

The canvas has not been lined. Ultra-violet light reveals no sign of restoration. The work is in good original condition and ready to hang. Presented in a floating frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted in 1961, The Rocky Soil has Become a Garden recalls Corneille’s frequent travels to Africa, Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico. Throughout these ‘exotic’ trips, he was fascinated by the colours, aromas and cultures, which he extensively transposes into his paintings. Indeed, the cluster of bulky shapes painted in bright primary colours somehow evokes the rocks, the soil, the nature of what could possibly be a Mediterranean or South American landscape, with a beautiful red sun to the lower right.  

Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo was born in 1922 in Liège, Belgium. Although he studied briefly at the Academy of Arts in Amsterdam, he was mainly self-taught and drew inspiration from the works of Paul Klee, Joan Miró, and Vincent van Gogh, to whom he felt particularly close in the use of colour and in the passion for nature. It was indeed this passion that led the artist to sign his works simply as ‘Corneille’, both the French version of his name and the French word for raven. Not surprisingly, birds are a common motif in his entire oeuvre.

Corneille’s first solo exhibition was held in Groningen in 1946 and in 1949 he exhibited at the CoBrA's debut group exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.  Acronym of the artists’ home cities — Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam – CoBrA was founded a year earlier by Karel Appel, Constant, Corneille, Christian Dotremont, Asger Jorn, and Joseph Noiret in the Café Notre-Dame, Paris. Clearly indebted to Surrealist theories of automatism and sharing Jean Dubuffet’s interest in Art Brut, CoBrA artists produced ‘childlike’ works, at times naïve, bringing to life a world full of colourful animals and anthropomorphic forms. Like many other avant-garde artists of the time, they were determined to erase the boundaries between art and life and release the creative energies repressed by society’s superstructures.