Georges Mathieu

Georges Mathieu (born January 27, 1921 in Boulogne-sur-Mer , † June 10, 2012 in Paris ) was a French painter. He was considered one of the main representatives of tachism .

Act

Mathieu's pictures are mostly non-representational compositions determined by the speed of the painting process. The creation of his pictures is based on the method of Japanese calligraphy , which can be characterized with meditation, concentration, improvisation and speed.

After the first successful sale of one of his paintings, he did not change his style. The commercial played in his painting, although Tachism was actually an insignificant from the viewer of art, probably a big role.

Mathieu literally staged his painting by painting large-format pictures in front of an audience. Great importance is therefore attached to the creation process of the work of art. He often produced at high speed, and his pictures were often created in a few minutes. He was convinced that this was the only way to express his innermost being.

In 1959, Georges Mathieu was a participant in documenta II in Kassel .

Works (selection)

• 1942: Oxford Street by Night
• 1950: Homage à la mort
• 1952: Homage to Maréchal de Turenne
• 1954: La Bataille de Bouvines. Les Capétiens partout
• 1956: Quatre fresques en hommage au prophète Elie ( Center d'Etudes Carmelitaines , Paris). Couronnement de Charlemagne. La Bataille de Hastings .
• 1957: La Bataille des Esperous d'or
• 1958: La Bataille de Brunkeberg
• 1958: La Bataille de Tibériade
• 1959: Homage to Connétable de Bourbon
• 1961: Saint Georges terrassant le Dragon
• 1961: Dessin inedit wine label for the 1961 Mouton-Rothschild
• 1963: La Victoire de Denain . Homage to Jean Cocteau , fresque pour la Maison de la Radio (Paris)
• 1965: Paris, Capitale des arts
• 1966: Tapestry of the Gobelins pour le Salon d'honneur du Pavillon français à l'Exposition universelle de Montréal
• 1967: Hommage à Condillac (Faculté des Sciences de Grenoble, Isère). Series d'affiches for Air France
• 1968: Hommage aux poètes disparus
• 1969: Les Capétiens partout
• 1970: Homage to Guillaume Dufay
• 1971: L'Election de Charles Quint
• 1973: Décors pour l'opéra de Bartok , Barbe bleue ( Deutsche Oper Berlin ). Sculpture pour le collège de Bourgueil (Indre-et-Loire)
• 1974: Nouvelle pièce française de dix francs
• 1975: Conception du premier sigle d ' Antenne 2
• 1976: Courtray
• 1978: Matta Salums. Batoumi
• 1979: Période des oeuvres "stellaires": L'Astre du jour . Période des "supersignes": Ibéride
• 1980: Postage stamp issued June 18, 1940, on the 10th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle
• 1980–1982: Sculpture monumentale pour le complexe sportif de Neuilly (Hauts-de-Seine)
• 1981–1985: A la France , tapisserie des Gobelins
• 1982: Signal pour le CES de Charenton-le-Pont ( Val-de-Marne ). Célébration du feu, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Céramique Industrielle de Limoges (Haute-Vienne). La Délivrance d'Orléans par Jeanne d'Arc .
• 1984: Le Cycle de Saturne (series)
• 1985: Trophée, 7 d'Or, pour la télévision. Le Massacre des 269.
• 1988: Le Paradis des orages
• 1989: L'Immortalité ruinée
• 1991: Rumeur de paradis

literature

Jürgen Claus, "Painting as a process: Georges Mathieu", in: Jürgen Claus, "Theories of contemporary painting", Rowohlt Verlag, 1963.

Awards

• Knight of the Legion of Honor (Order)
• Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (since 1975)
• Officer of the Belgian Order of the Crown (1982)
• Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Quote

"The laws of semantics suddenly turn out to be the other way round:
Up to now, a thing was given, a sign is given, this is feasible and therefore a true sign when it finds an embodiment."

- Georges Mathieu, 1951

Web links

• Materials by and about Georges Mathieu in the documenta archive
• Entry on the website of the Académie des Beaux-Arts

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The great Georges Mathieu is dead. RP Online, June 12, 2012, accessed March 27, 2013 .