Christian Dotremont

Christian Dotremont (born December 12, 1922 in Tervuren ; † August 20, 1979 in Buizingen , Halle near Brussels ) was a Belgian painter and poet .

life and work

Christian Stanislas Marie Joseph Léandre Benoît Dotremont was born in 1922 in Tervuren, near Brussels. His parents were both writers and Christian wrote his first poems and novels while still at school. In 1930 his parents separated and Christian went to boarding school. In 1938 he left school. In 1940 he published Ancienne éternité and met René Magritte and Raoul Ubac . The 18-year-old was accepted into the circle of Belgian surrealists . In 1941 Dotremont traveled to Paris, where he made contact with the French surrealists and met André Breton , Henri Goetz , Pablo Picasso , Jean Cocteau and Alberto Giacometti .

During World War II , Dotremont married Ai-Li Mian , a woman of Chinese origin. Dotremont became interested in China, in the country, the language and the script.

After the war, Dotremont became increasingly involved in conflicts with the other Surrealists. In 1946/47 he founded the Revolutionary Surrealist Group with Noël Arnaud, Louis Scutenaire, Marcel Mariën, Paul Nougé, Achille Chavée, Irène Hamoir and Édouard Jaguer . In 1947 he published the manifesto Le surréalisme révolutionaire . In 1948 Dotremont wrote La cause était entendue and founded the artist group CoBrA together with the Dane Asger Jorn . The Dutchmen Constant , Karel Appel , Corneille and the Belge Joseph Noiret signed the manifesto.

Dotremont worked with Asger Jorn, Serge Vandercam and Pierre Alechinsky . Text was combined with paintings on canvas and word drawings and later word paintings were created . In the 1960s Dotremont began to write and draw poems on paper with a brush and ink (rarely also in color). He became the gestural painter of the word. Individual logograms were created.

Asger Jorn stayed at Silkeborg Sanatorium in Denmark in 1951 because of tuberculosis . Dotremont, who also had tuberculosis, was admitted to the same ward for treatment. The two shared a room for several months.

Between 1956 and 1962 Christian Dotremont made three trips to Lapland . Instead of logograms, there were logo cones (drawn in the snow) .

Exhibitions

• 2011 Christian Dotremont: Logogrammes Center Georges Pompidou
• 1977 documenta 6 , Kassel

literature

Dotremont wrote the autobiographical novella La pierre et l'oreiller , (Gallimard, 1955 ISBN 978-2-07073-9-295 ), then Digue in 1959 , and Moi, qui j'avais in 1961 . Logogrammes I & II (1964-65), Logbook (1974) and Traces were published posthumously in 1980.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Catalog for documenta 6: Volume 3: hand drawings, utopian design, books; Kassel, page 96, 1977 ISBN 3-920453-00-X
2. ↑ Schwarzaufweiss, Das Reisemagazin Christian Dotremont, accessed on February 4, 2015
3. ↑ Ambassade Hotel, Art and Culture Christian Dotremont ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on February 4, 2015 
4. ↑ kunstbus Christian Dotremont accessed on February 4, 2015 (Dutch)
5. ↑ Galerie Birch Christian Dotremond ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on February 4, 2015 
6. ↑ pastelgram review, CC Marsh Christian Dotremont: Logogrammes Center Pompidou accessed on February 4, 2015 (English)
7. ↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica Christian Dotremont accessed on February 4, 2015 (English)