Tajan celebrates the centenary of Pierre Soulages
Tajan is very pleased to announce a Pierre Soulages masterpiece at auction in November. This extraordinary work will be presented for the first time on the market in our November 27 Post-war and Contemporary Art auction.
Created in 1960, Peinture, 200 x 162 cm, 14 mars 1960, is a striking illustration of the liberating energy exploding in Pierre Soulages’ work at the dawn of the sixties when he emerges as one of the leading figures of his generation.
This painting illustrates perfectly Pierre Soulages’ scraping technique initiated by the artist in the late 50’s. On the off white, initially coated canvas, large strips of black cover a part of the painting’s surface. Through the use of special brushes and spatulas, Pierre Soulages gradually unveils and reveals in part the hidden ochre layer, playing with transparencies and offering an infinite variation of colours with unexpected luminosities.
Widely exhibited since its creation, Peinture, 200 x 162 cm, 14 mars 1960, also benefits from a prestigious provenance. Acquired on the occasion of the exhibition at Galerie de France in 1960 by James Johnson Sweeney, the well-known art critic, curator and Director of Painting and Sculpture at the MoMA from 1940 to 1945 and director of the Guggenheim from 1952 to 1960, it has since been held in the same family. Their first encounter in Paris in 1948 was the starting point of a long and close friendship between their two families and Sweeney is undeniably the one that has largely contributed to the wide, strong recognition of Pierre Soulages in America.
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Photo 1 : Pierre Soulages dans son atelier
Photo 2 : Gare de Westport, Irlande. 1967. Colette et Pierre Soulages, Laura et James Johnson Sweeney