Florence Monnier

André-Pierre Arnal, Simon Hantaï, Bernard Pagès, Jean-Pierre Pincemin, Patrick Saytour, Claude Viallat Supports/Surfaces While the minimalist tendency in abstract art sought to reduce the presence of the artist as far as possible, the group Supports/Surfaces questioned painting and its processes, deconstructing even the notion of the painting. In the case of Daniel Dezeuze, whose thinking […]

Pol Bury, Ponctuation blanche, fils de nylon activés par un moteur électrique sur planche de bois peint, 1961 Pol Bury Inventors and tinkerers, the artists Jean Tinguely or Pol Bury sought to go beyond painting by designing mobile, three-dimensional works. Powered by an electric motor at the back, these works dependent on chance are set

Jean Tinguely, Relief SYN n° VII, panneau de bois avec formes en aluminium peint activées par un moteur électrique et un système mécanique, 1956 Jean Tinguely Inventors and tinkerers, the artists Jean Tinguely or Pol Bury sought to go beyond painting by designing mobile, three-dimensional works. Powered by an electric motor at the back, these

Jean Degottex, Lignes-Report Noir (III), acrylique et colle sur toile, 30 décembre 1977, 205,5 x 419 cm Jean Degottex Jean Degottex moved from gestural signs resembling Oriental calligraphy – as seen in his Horsphères in the 1960s – to complex compositions that are far from monochrome. Always searching for a “minimum” form of art, Degottex

Pierre Soulages, Peinture 202 x 255 cm, 18 octobre 1984, huile sur toile, 1984, 202 x 255 cm Pierre Soulages At the beginning of 1979, Pierre Soulages developed his outrenoirs. Both a rupture from and the culmination of his previous work, the artist’s practice evolved constantly. Considering art as a question that needs to be

Hans Hartung, T 1987-H3, T 1987-H4, acrylique sur toile, 10 mars 1987, 180 x 360 cm (diptyque) Hans Hartung Working first from studies during the 1950s, Hans Hartung continuously evolved his technique by inventing new creative methods that marked each stage of his career. Moving from the brush to scratching, then to scraping and spraying,

Bernard Pagès et Patrick Saytour Bernard Pagès et Patrick Saytour Bernard Pagès and Patrick Saytour preferred the use of salvaged materials. While the former mixed manufactured objects and natural elements, playing with the opposition between materials and forms – as in his Arrangements – the latter questioned the fragility of the raw materials with Tension,

Simon Hantaï, Étude, huile sur toile 1969, 273,2 x 236,5 cm Simon Hantaï Simon Hantaï, whose pioneering work was a major inspiration for Arnal and the artists of the Supports/Surfaces group, crumpled the canvas and saturated it with colour, leaving free rein to chance in the resulting composition. However, unlike Arnal, Hantaï then smoothed out

Claude Viallat, 1968/025, bleu de méthylène sur toile, empreintes modifiées par la pluie, 1968, 278 x 183,4 cm Claude Viallat Claude Viallat reproduces the same motif on the canvas, sometimes playing with chance. Now and then his experiments went further, allowing the rain to modify his mark-making or burning his unstretched canvases, incorporating the notion

Daniel Dezeuze, Toile ajourée, toile découpée, 1967, 195 x 130,2 cm Daniel Dezeuze In the case of Daniel Dezeuze, whose thinking on painting was “combined with an admiration for the work of the American minimalists”, cutting the canvas represented a desire to break from the “screen-surface” of the painting as early as 1967 and to