Simon Hantaï, M-C 6, 1962
Simon Hantaï, MC 6, 1962, huile sur toile, 223 x 212 cm

MC 6

From 1960, and following a stay in Chartres where he studied the cathedral’s stained glass windows, Hantaï reconnected with a technique he had tried when he was young, folding. The canvas, folded up several times, is evenly painted. The colour therefore does not reach certain surfaces, and more or less penetrates the inner parts. Once unfolded, the white preserved from the colour appears, with all the nuances this type of impregnation allows. The series of the Mariales (1960-1963), Meuns (1967-1968) and Tabulas (1972-1982) were those successively created. According to Simon Hantaï, “the canvas is creased harmoniously and only the folded areas remaining on the surface are painted”. The actual Mariales series includes 27 works, divided into four groups, identified by a letter (A, B, C, D) and an order number. MC 6 belongs to the “Mariales” series. Once this canvas is unfolded a fragmented blue appears in all its glory like pieces of a stained glass window.

Simon Hantaï (1922-2008)

Simon Hantaï is a painter born in Hungary who moved to France in 1948, and is considered to be a major figure in abstraction. From 1960 he produced a marked multiform work by using “folding as a method”. “When I fold, I am objective and that allows me to lose myself”.

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