Dozmans, 1965
Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, titled on reverse
46 x 73 cm
18 7/64 x 28 47/64 in.
The work of Georges Mathieu is marked by the influence of oriental calligraphy, whose furtive and precise gesture permeates the canvas. An emblematic figure, he discovered this technique during a trip to the Middle East, which would become preponderant in the rest of his production. Georges Mathieu's painting is built from abstract signs, traced with a speed superior to that of calligraphic tracing. However, the artist's gesture translates his emotions onto the canvas. "Extreme oriental calligraphy improvises on given characters, — it is true — but in total freedom according to personal inspiration and speed intervenes as well as a certain state of "ecstasy". Being in Japan last year I could see master calligraphers making gigantic signs in a few seconds. It would not have occurred to anyone to deny them any artistic quality under the pretext that they were made in a few seconds. I would add to these conditions of speed and improvisation that of the necessity of a second state: at the same time a concentration of psychic energies and the most total state of emptiness.
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