Etel Adnan

The Artist, Paris
Private Collection, California (gifted directly by the above in 1987 to the present owner)

Over the course of the 1960s, Adnan started to work on leporellos, accordion-style sketchbooks inspired by Japanese concertina-like books created from folded paper into which she often combined abstract drawings with writings. In Adnan’s own words:

 

“This Japanese format - where the paper unfolds - creates an horizontal plane that seems to be infinite, and that goes beyond the traditional frame of painted works. This way, the texts and the images are liberated.”

The present work doesn’t feature any text yet there is a calligraphic feel in which one finds a sense of Adnan’s language in her depiction of the linden trees, drawn in black ink on one side and highlighted with colour on the other. Although the artist was exposed to a medley of languages growing up (Greek, Turkish, Arabic, French), in her paintings she sought to free herself of one type of expression and experiment with a new language:

 

“I became a painter, I immersed myself in that new language. Abstract art was the equivalent of poetic expression; I didn’t need to use words, but colors and lines. I didn’t need to belong to a language-oriented culture but to an open form of expression…” Etel Adnan

 

This work was created by Adnan in Paris for her friend, the current owner, who bought her the booklet. The linden trees depicted were found outside of the artist’s home in Paris and bear witness to the importance of the artist’s surroundings as a source of inspiration in her work.