Galerie Templon offers for the first time a solo exhibition of Georges Mathieu. The exhibition features around thirty paintings created between 1960 and 1979, demonstrating the significance and inventiveness of a body of work that left a lasting impression on French art and imagination. In 1971, Pierre Dehaye said: “In the twenty years since lyrical abstraction began, never before has the artist attained this uniformity of luminosity and overall balance. Each painting is a celebration.“ Daniel Templon often refers to the moment when he discovered Georges Mathieu’s Capétiens partout ! in 1965, a “real visual shock” that triggered his desire to become a gallerist. Galerie Templon has published a catalogue to mark the exhibition, featuring texts by Edouard Lombard (president of the Georges Mathieu Committee) and American art historian AnnMarie Perl (Princeton) which analyse the importance of his historical contribution and the underpinnings of his international reception.
Visitors will be able to view a monumental and historical artwork, measuring 2.5 by 4 m, L’écartèlement de François Ravaillac, assassin du roi de France Henri IV, le 27 mai 1610, à Paris en place de Grève, painted in 1960. After having seen it, celebrated American art critic and poet John Ashbery (Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Award) stated: “The new paintings of Georges Mathieu […] are among the finest work he has done so far and probably establish him as France’s foremost abstract painter. […] The new work has a richness, a completeness, a truth which cannot be ignored, and for the first time, perhaps, it has that kind of unquestionable authority that Jackson Pollock’s best work has. It should convince all but the most stubborn foes of abstract painting.” Patrick Grainville, member of the Académie Française, later wrote: “L’Écartèlement de Ravaillac summons dripping to the point of saturation, of bloody inundation.”
From September 8th to October 20th, 2018. Galerie Templon, 30 rue Beaubourg, Paris, France.
Header photo : Torque (1965)
Center photo : L’écartèlement de François Ravaillac, assassin du roi de France Henri IV, le 27 mai 1610, à Paris en place de Grève (19 May 1960)
![[ENGLISH BELOW]
🇫🇷 L'exposition des œuvres sur papier de Georges Mathieu chez Perrotin est ouverte du mardi au samedi, de 11h à 19h, jusqu’au 30 septembre, au 2bis avenue Matignon.
« Georges Mathieu, fondateur de l'Abstraction lyrique, est reconnu internationalement pour ses œuvres sur toile énergiques, parfois monumentales. Il est aussi renommé en France pour sa production d’artiste total, dans les domaines les plus variés, des affiches aux médailles et pièces de monnaie, en passant par les tapisseries des Gobelins, les porcelaines de Sèvres et même l’architecture d’avant-garde.
Au sein de cette multitude de supports et de techniques, ses œuvres sur papier, qui furent souvent exposées au côté de ses peintures, ont rarement fait l’objet d’une présentation dédiée. Elles méritent pourtant qu’on leur prête une attention particulière, à la fois en tant qu’illustrations supplémentaires du talent protéiforme de Mathieu, et par leurs qualités propres, leurs caractéristiques distinctives qui nous offrent un récit sur l’évolution du style de l’artiste, parallèle à celui que nous offrent ses peintures. » – Édouard Lombard, Directeur du Comité Georges Mathieu
🌏 ‘Georges Mathieu, the founder of Lyrical Abstraction, is internationally renowned for his dynamic, sometimes monumental works on canvas. In France, he is also known as a total artist, working in a wide variety of fields, from posters to medals and coins, from Gobelins tapestries to Sèvres porcelain and even avant-garde architecture.
Amidst the vast array of media and techniques, his works on paper, although often exhibited alongside his paintings, have rarely been the subject of a separate exhibition. Yet they deserve special consideration, not only to showcase Mathieu's protean talent but because of their unique qualities that demonstrate the evolution of his style in parallel with his paintings.’
On view until September 30 at 2 bis avenue Matignon
Tuesday-Saturday 11AM-7PM
—
#georgesmathieu #PerrotinMatignon #Perrotin
__
Views of Georges Mathieu’s exhibition at Perrotin 2 bis Matignon, 2023
Photo: Tanguy Beurdeley
© Comité Georges Mathieu / ADAGP, Paris, 2023. Courtesy of the estate & @Perrotin](https://georges-mathieu.fr/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
