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    • What we owe Georges Mathieu
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The calligraphic nature of the work of Georges Mathieu

What we owe Georges Mathieu

Georges Mathieu, the inventor of performance art

Mathieu and Tapié, 1948–1958: A Decade of Adventure
 

  • Georges Mathieu in brief

    Founder of Lyrical Abstraction, inventor of performance art, pioneer of Action Painting, speed and risk, dripping, early inspirer of street art

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    Georges Mathieu


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    Repost from @perrotin For this year’s edition of TEFAF New York, Perrotin is pleased to stage a presentation of historical abstract paintings by artists from the Second School of Paris. Georges Mathieu was the founder of 'lyrical abstraction,' a term coined by critic Jean José Marchand in 1947 in reference to Mathieu's work. The artist departed from geometrical abstractions that had dominated the previous era to favor a visual language that privileged form over content and gesture over intent, aiming for uninhibited creative expression. There is just one more day of TEFAF New York – Perrotin’s booth number is 327, come say hi! — @tefaf #TEFAFNewYork #Perrotin — Georges Mathieu, Montfleury, 1970. Photo: Claire Dorn. ©Georges Mathieu / ADAGP, Paris & ARS, New York 2023. Courtesy the artist's estate and Perrotin.


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    (English below ⬇️) 🇫🇷 Nous commémorons aujourd'hui l'anniversaire du célèbre peintre Georges Mathieu, qui a laissé une contribution durable dans le monde de l'art. L'exposition "Georges Mathieu, L'Usine Étoile et autres défis" est en cours à l'Historial de la Vendée jusqu'au 21 mai 2023. L'exposition présente 170 objets, dont des sculptures, des affiches, des timbres, des médailles, etc., avec des activités dédiées aux enfants. Voyez la maquette de l'Usine Etoile, la seule usine conçue par un peintre moderne, l'élégante épée de l'académicien Pierre Dehaye, la saisissante tapisserie "Hommage à Nicolas Fouquet" de 1967, et le célèbre tableau "La Bataille de Bouvines" de 1954. Ne manquez pas cette opportunité de vous plonger au cœur de l'univers de Georges Mathieu ! 🌏 Today we commemorate the birthday of the renowned French painter Georges Mathieu, who left a lasting legacy in the art world. As a special treat for art lovers, there's currently an ongoing exhibition, "Georges Mathieu, L’Usine Étoile et autres défis" at l'Historial de la Vendée until May 21st, 2023. The exhibition features 170 objects, including sculptures, posters, stamps, medals, and more, with activities dedicated to children. See the model of the Usine Etoile, a star-shaped factory that is the first one designed by a modern painter, the ornate sword of French Academician Pierre Dehaye, the striking tapestry "Hommage à Nicolas Fouquet" from 1967, and the famous "The Battle of Bouvines" painting from 1954. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to dive deeper into the world of Georges Mathieu! #GeorgesMathieu #ModernArt #Birthday #Expo #Exhibition #Vendée © Comité Georges Mathieu / ADAGP, Paris / Conservation des Musées et des Expositions de la Vendée / Patrick Durandet


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    (English below ⬇️) 🇫🇷 Pour le 50ème anniversaire de l’Usine Étoile, usine œuvre d’art unique au monde imaginée par Georges Mathieu et située à Fontenay-le-Comte, le département de Vendée organise une grande exposition à l’Historial de la Vendée, du 18 novembre 2022 au 21 mai 2023. L’exposition présentera 170 objets issus des collections de 14 prêteurs, parmi lesquels le @CentrePompidou, la @MonnaieDeParis, le @MuseePoste, le Comité Georges Mathieu. L’exposition sera accompagnée d’un catalogue réunissant des textes inédits. La première section présentera 9 peintures majeures, notamment la fameuse et monumentale Bataille de Bouvines (2,50 m x 6 m) de 1954. La deuxième section présentera l’histoire de la conception de l’Usine Étoile et la maquette originale de Georges Mathieu. La troisième section présentera de nombreuses œuvres d’art appliqué de Mathieu, notamment la tapisserie Hommage à Nicolas Fouquet de 1967, des sculptures, des affiches, des timbres, des médailles, les maquettes successives réalisées par Mathieu pour son projet de façade de l’immeuble @RTL_France… 🌏 For the 50th anniversary of the Usine Étoile—literally “star factory”—a unique star-shaped factory and work of art designed by Georges Mathieu and located in Fontenay-Le-Comte, France, the Vendée region is organizing a major exhibition at the Historial de la Vendée, from November 18, 2022 to May 21, 2023. The exhibition will feature 170 objects from the collections of 14 lenders, including the Centre Pompidou, the Monnaie de Paris, the Musée de la Poste and the Georges Mathieu Committee. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog containing original articles. The first section will present 9 major paintings, including the famous and monumental Bataille de Bouvines (8′ x 20′) from 1954. The second section will present the design history of the Usine Étoile and the original model by Georges Mathieu. The third section will present many of Mathieu’s applied artworks, including the 1967 tapestry Hommage à Nicolas Fouquet, sculptures, posters, stamps, medals, Mathieu’s successive models for his RTL building facade project… #GeorgesMathieu #Expo #Musée #StarFactory #Vendée


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    🌏 To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Applicat-Prazan gallery, and for his first participation in Paris+ par Art Basel, Franck Prazan proposes a new solo exhibition by Georges Mathieu, eight years after the one that made a big impact at FIAC 2014: “Our commitment combines with passion when it comes to Georges Mathieu, whom I consider to be one of the greatest painters of the post-war years. A theorist and practitioner of genius, he is a witness of his time and, beyond materiality, of the preceding periods, as well as—I like to hope!—of those which will have followed.” Paris+ par @ArtBasel takes place at the Grand Palais Éphémère from October 20 to 23, 2022 and the exhibition continues from October 29 to December 17, 2022 in the Rive gauche & Rive droite Paris galleries of @ApplicatPrazan. 🇫🇷 Pour fêter le 30ème anniversaire de la galerie Applicat-Prazan, et pour sa première participation à Paris+ par Art Basel, Franck Prazan propose une nouvelle exposition solo de Georges Mathieu, huit ans après celle qui avait fait grand bruit à la FIAC 2014: « Notre engagement se conjugue à la passion lorsqu’il s’agit de Georges Mathieu, que je considère comme l’un des plus grands peintres de l’après-guerre. Théoricien et praticien de génie, il est un témoin de son temps et, par-delà la matérialité, des époques qui l’ont précédé comme sans doute — j’aime à l’espérer ! — de celles qui l’auront suivi. » Paris+ par @ArtBasel a lieu au Grand Palais Éphémère du 20 au 23 octobre 2022 et l’exposition se poursuit du 29 octobre au 17 décembre 2022 dans les galeries Rive gauche & Rive droite d’@ApplicatPrazan. Photo : Jacques de Mailly au siège d’Ascalon, 1958 © Comité Georges Mathieu / ADAGP, Paris #Mathieu #GeorgesMathieu #LyricalAbstraction #ArtCollectors


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    Plus que deux semaines pour aller admirer la très belle exposition « Au cœur de l’abstraction » de la collection de la @FondationGandurPourLArt dans l’écrin unique de la @FondationMaeght, conçue par Yan Schubert. Au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale des artistes du monde entier affluent de nouveau vers Paris qui reprend sa place de capitale culturelle. Démarre alors une période de grande effervescence artistique durant laquelle on assiste parallèlement à des évolutions de la tendance géométrique, née dans les avant-gardes du début du XXe siècle, et à l’émergence d’une génération d’artistes qui repense la peinture et ses supports et révolutionne l’art abstrait en transcendant le geste et la matière grâce à des techniques et des outils inédits. Reflets des formes multiples que revêt l’abstraction durant ces années de création, l’exposition propose de découvrir l’abstraction lyrique et gestuelle de Georges Mathieu, de Hans Hartung, de Pierre Soulages, l’expressionnisme abstrait de Sam Francis ou de Joan Mitchell, l’abstraction géométrique de Victor Vasarely, la peinture minimale de Martin Barré ou encore la sculpture cinétique de Jean Tinguely. At the end of the Second World War, artists from all over the world flocked to Paris, which regained its position as a cultural capital. This marked the beginning of a period of great artistic effervescence during which the geometric trend, born in the avant-gardes of the early 20th century, evolved in parallel with the emergence of a generation of artists who rethought painting and its supports and revolutionized abstract art by transcending gesture and material thanks to new techniques and tools. Reflecting the multiple forms that abstraction took during these years of creation, the exhibition proposes to discover the lyrical and gestural abstraction of Georges Mathieu, Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, the abstract expressionism of Sam Francis or Joan Mitchell, the geometric abstraction of Victor Vasarely, the minimalistic painting of Martin Barré or the kinetic sculpture of Jean Tinguely. @JeanClaudeGandur #GeorgesMathieu #Abstraction #ModernArt #ArtCollection @YoyoMaeght


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    To the applause in the @BonhamsFrance saleroom, the exceptional three-metre-long Exil de Go Daïgo dans l'île d'Oki (The Exile of Go Daigo in the Island of Oki), (1957) by Georges Mathieu, never seen on the market nor on French soil, was sold for €1,182,375, a record in France for a work by the artist. ⠀ Exil de Go Daïgo dans l'île d'Oki was created by #GeorgesMathieu in a Tokyo classroom of Sōfū Teshigahara, the founder of the Sogetsu-Ryu school of Ikebana. That same month the Gutai Art Association exhibited it in Tokyo and Osaka. It then entered the collection of Jirō Yoshihara, the founder and “father” of the #Gutai movement. ⠀ Edouard Lombard, Director of the Georges Mathieu Committee, commented: “‘Exil de Go Daïgo dans l'île d’Oki’ is not only a work that bears fervent witness to the famous trip of Mathieu to Japan in 1957 and more generally to the abstract calligraphy developed by the Master in the 1950s, but is also the stirring incarnation, through the identity of its first owner Jirō Yoshihara, founder and theorist of the Gutai movement, of the historical influence that Mathieu had on this movement, with Yoshihara professing in the Gutai manifesto: ‘the greatest respect for Pollock and Mathieu because their works reveal the howl of matter, the screams of pigments and varnishes.’” ⠀ 3rd photo, left to right: Peggy Guggenheim, Jirō Yoshihara, Yoko Ono (reading a book), Michio Yoshihara (standing over her), Atsuko Tanaka (standing next to him), David Tudor and John Cage (seen from behind) on October 17th, 1962. ⠀ 🇫🇷 « “Exil de Go Daïgo dans l’île d’Oki” est non seulement une œuvre qui témoigne de fervente manière du célèbre voyage de Mathieu au Japon en 1957 et plus largement de la calligraphie abstraite développée par le Maître dans les années 1950, elle est aussi l’émouvante incarnation, de par l’identité de son premier propriétaire Jirō Yoshihara, fondateur et théoricien du mouvement Gutaï, de l’influence historique qu’a eue Mathieu sur ce mouvement, Yoshihara professant dans le manifeste de l’art Gutaï “le plus grand respect pour Pollock et Mathieu car leurs œuvres révèlent le hurlement poussé par la matière, les cris des pigments et des vernis.” »


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    [français👇🏻] #GeorgesMathieu left us 10 years ago. If he would have undoubtedly been sensitive to the fact that his funeral had the rare honor of being celebrated in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, under the auspices of Viollet-le-Duc's spire, now also gone, it would have been even more important for him to see the new look given to his work these last five years. ⠀ Mathieu's work is once again successful outside of France, with foreign collectors from Hong Kong to New York to Shanghai. ⠀ Art historians are finally taking on the task of studying, describing and recognizing his essential contribution to the history of post-war art (his early informal paintings, the organization of the first Lyrical Abstraction exhibitions, the link he proposed between New York and Parisian abstractions, his numerous critical and theoretical essays) and his innovations (his international tours, his performances in front of large audiences, the variety of his techniques, from dripping to tubing, his all-out promotion of the applied arts). _________________ ⠀ Georges Mathieu nous a quittés il y a dix ans. S’il aurait sans nul doute été sensible à ce que ses obsèques ont eu le rare honneur d’être célébrées en la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, sous les auspices de la flèche de Viollet-le-Duc désormais elle aussi disparue, il lui aurait plus encore tenu à cœur de constater le regard nouveau porté sur son œuvre ces cinq dernières années. ⠀ L’œuvre de Mathieu rencontre à nouveau le succès en dehors des frontières françaises, auprès de collectionneurs étrangers, de Hong Kong à New York en passant par Shanghai. ⠀ Les historiens d’art s’attellent enfin à la tâche d’étudier, de décrire et de reconnaître son apport essentiel à l’histoire de l’art d’après-guerre (ses premières peintures informelles, l’organisation des premières expositions d’Abstraction lyrique, le lien qu’il proposait entre les abstractions de New York et celles de Paris, ses nombreux essais critiques et théoriques) et ses innovations (ses tournées internationales, ses performances devant de larges publics, la variété de ses techniques, du dripping au tubisme, sa promotion tous azimuts des arts appliqués).


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    𝗦𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗮𝘀: 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘂 Great review by @DavidEbony in @ArtInAmerica / @ArtNews ⠀ “A precursor to Happenings and performance art, and an intriguing example of asemic writing—which resembles language but does not carry meaning—the work of French painter Georges Mathieu (1921–2012) was both influential and prescient. Yet Mathieu’s achievements have largely faded from view, at least within the United States. This remarkable New York survey, featuring some thirty-six major works filling two venues [@galerieperrotin & @nahmadcontemporary], marks the artist’s centenary. […] Mathieu often titled his works after medieval or pre–French Revolution battles, as with The Victory of Denain (1963), one of several stunning examples at Perrotin. Here, against a hazy, stained, coffee-hued background—modulated from deep umber on the lower right to muted beige on the upper left—thick, slashing brushstrokes of red, white, and blue thrust from left to right, traversing the central portion of the twenty-three-foot-wide canvas. In palette and composition, the work recalls Jean Alaux’s 1839 painting of the same subject, which depicts a 1712 French victory in the War of the Spanish Succession. In Mathieu’s painting, and in many of his other epic-scale compositions, he abstracts and critiques the tradition of grandiose history painting. The intensity of Mathieu’s gestures, and the resultant complex, layered cursive, also evokes wildstyle graffiti and certain works that Futura and Rammellzee produced in the 1980s. […] In a stark composition like First Avenue (1957, at Perrotin), featuring only a few convulsive splashes and drips of white tossed at the center of a pitch-black background, with several poignant red slashing lines at upper right, Mathieu directly responds to the New York School of Pollock and Franz Kline, as a representative of Paris’s own brand of testosterone-driven, postwar angst.” ⠀ #GeorgesMathieu #LyricalAbstraction


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    Repost from @galerieperrotin Timeless Talents ⠀ In 1952, The @NYTimes called Georges Mathieu, “one of the most fervid of contemporary French abstractionists,” and in 1954, the newspaper affirmed him an abstract expressionist as powerful in Paris as Willem de Kooning is for Manhattan. ⠀ Despite Mathieu’s ardent popularity at the onset of his career and the extensive acquisition of his paintings by major American and European museums early on, the artist has largely been overlooked in recent decades—his last major exhibition in the United States took place forty-two years ago in New York. ⠀ Through October 23rd—we invite visitors to explore the artist’s work at our New York gallery and also @NahmadContemporary to gain new understanding of this underestimated pioneer. — #GeorgesMathieu #LyricalAbstraction #NahmadContemporary #PerrotinNewYork #Perrotin — Georges Mathieu, Paris, Capital of the Arts, 1965. Oil on canvas. 300 × 900 cm | 118 1/8 × 354 5/16 inch. © Comité Georges Mathieu / ADAGP / Perrotin.



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    Georges Mathieu

  • Recent Posts

    • Mathieu at the Historial de la Vendée: exhibition around the Usine Étoile
    • Paris+ par Art Basel : solo exhibition of Georges Mathieu by Applicat-Prazan
    • French newscast with 5M viewers: Rediscovering Georges Mathieu
    • Georges Mathieu’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong
 

  • All artworks of Georges Mathieu © Comité Georges Mathieu / ADAGP