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Regarde dans mes yeux. Je te cherche. Ne me chasse pas

Painting

Author

By (artist) Simon Hantaï

Description

"Midway between the fossil just dug out of the mud and the fire bird which he pursues, Simon Hantaï retraced, for his own enlightenment, the whole Surrealist process in art. With him, the most undignified of materials (a bone, a fishbone, a fragment from a newspaper) acquire a brilliance which reveals them-to themselves and to our eyes. This metamorphosis takes effect on each element suddenly, and in the most minute detail. A bone becomes a flapping wing, a fragment of newspaper an eye which questions or threatens: 'What are you doing here? Are you on my side? A friend? If not, take up your road again before I use the colours which compose you to paint your ilium with the life you should have led.'" (« Simon Hantaï », in : Médium, Nouvelle série, n° 1, novembre 1953, p. 1)

Simon Hantaï
"In these early days of 1953, it was Simon Hantaï who breathed life into those fabulous beings who formed his retinue, moving as no other creature ever had, in a light never seen before. Simon Hantaï who might well have haunted, like the other Simon, 'that dwelling place where the Root of All has its foundations'. I dream of those magnificent prints (signed Soemmering, Scarpa, Walter, Caldini, Albinus, etc.), which decorate old anatomical treatises, where each architecture or texture of a human organ is backed up by an analogical plant structure: uterus and tobacco flower, inner ear and Peruvian balsam (See La Médecine pittoresque, Paris 1834-1837). Putting such elements in relation needs must one day lead to their fusion, and here, in effect, we touch on a universe where they combine to perfection." (Paris, L'Étoile scellée, « Simon Hantaï » (présentation d'André Breton), 1953.)

Bibliography

- Paris, Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, André Breton, la beauté convulsive, 1991, rep. p. 444
- Suzanne Duco-Nouhaud, L'apport du surréalisme chez Yves Laloy (1920-1999), Symbolisme et magie picturale, Mémoire de D.E.A., Histoire de l'Art Contemporain, sous la direction du Professeur Serge Lemoine, volume I et II, Paris, Université de Paris IV, 2000, p. 11, doc. n° 4
- Paris, Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Simon Hantaï, 2013, rep. p. 42.

Creation date1953
Date of publication 1952
LanguagesFrench
Physical description39,5 x 24 cm et 55,5 x 39, 7 x 5,36 cm avec encadrement - Peinture à la cire et éléments de squelette sur papier monté sur carton
From / ProvenanceDon de l'artiste
Museum

Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris : AM 2003-270

Copyright© ADAGP, Paris, 2005.
Breton Auction, 2003Lot 4296
Keywords, ,
CategoriesModern Paintings
Set[Exhibitions] 1991, boîte archives bleue, Beaubourg
Permanent linkhttps://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100640140

See also

1 Work
 
False

Rosée solidifiée

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Simon Hantaï

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Huile sur toile réalisée par le peintre hongrois Simon Hantaï datée de 1950-1951.
Une image, une notice descriptive, une bibliographie, des expositions.

[Exhibitions] 1965-1966, L'écart absolu