Alfred Manessier: Abstract - SOLD
Alfred Manessier (1911-1993)
Abstract - 1968
Oil on board
21,5 x 21,5 cm
Signed and dated bottom
Sold - 2013
An exhibition of Alfred Manesier’s work at the Centre Pomidou in 2006, was described as follows:
The work of the painter Alfred Manessier, often described as ‘mystical’, tends towards a timeless and universal dimension. Interiorising the spectacle of the world, observing the richness of the light that suffuses landscapes, Manessier invented and developed an abstract pictorial language that is intense and terse and seeks to pierce to the essential and the mystery of beings and things .
Manessier was a French Abstract painter, lithographer and designer of tapestries and stained glass windows. He qualified as an architect after his studies at the Nationale Superieure des Beaux from 1931 to 1935. Studying painting in 1935 at Academie Ranson, he was introduced to the murals by Roger Bissiere who was teaching there at the time, and later discovered the art of tapestry and stained glass, resulting in many commissions for churches in France and abroad. Manessier accompanied the writer Camille Bourniquel to the la Trappe Soligny monastery in 1943. There he experienced a deep spiritual transformation, leaving him with a new found faith which lasted the rest of his life, also inspiring his art.
Manessier’s works are based on existing constructions, references to places, political events, and meditations on sacred texts. His earlier works show influences of Impressionism, his exploration of Cubism and also Surrealism and even a noticeable impact of Fauvism. Eventually his abstract paintings evolved into non-figurative representations, but always deeply rooted in representations of reality.
Analysing Manessier’s approach to his paintings, John Kohan observes: Although his works are abstract, they are not simply exercises in composition and color, which refer to nothing beyond their immediate surface like many pieces of modern art. His expressive forms evoke the essence of landscapes and the forces of nature, current events, the central narratives of the Christian faith, mystical writings, even Bach compositions .
Viewing the 1968 work, ‘Abstract’, one immediately becomes aware of the angular nature of this abstracted composition, further emphasised by the layering of paint in a cross-hatched patchwork of colour. Manessier used existing structures as inspiration for his compositions, and although, on first inspection, identifying such structures seems impossible, the eye is tricked into searching for different shapes in the continuous maze of brushstrokes. Deeply imbued from childhood by the landscapes and light of the Bay of Somme , he devote[d] many canvases to the meandering reflections of the river . Taking this reference into consideration the work opens itself to another reading; that of a mirrored pattern on disturbed water, a fleeting moment where reflected light is captured in time. The artist’s choice of a perfect square creates compositional harmony, juxtaposed by the vibrant energy of the explosive brushwork, and the black, pink and jade green cell-like structures competing for attention.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.centrepompidou.fr/
http://sacredartpilgrim.com/collection/