ART-PRESENTATION: Pierre Soulages, Twenty Twenty-One

Known as “the painter of black and light,” Pierre Soulages has forged a career remarkable not only for its rigorous invention, but for its longevity. Since the postwar period, the artist has evaded participation in such movements as Abstract Expressionism, Tachism, and Informel—rather contextualizing his paintings in terms of vitalism, classicism, and prehistoric forms.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Lévy Gorvy Gallery Archive

The works in Pierre Soulages’ solo exhibition “Twenty Twenty-One” exemplify the continual experimentation and refinement of composition, method, and expression that Soulages continues to bring to his work as a painter who remains active at age 101. The presentation debuts recent paintings, including five “Outrenoir” paintings created over the past year. To make these works, Soulages repeatedly applies black pigment into irregular bands on his canvas. The resulting accumulation of paint lends these highly textured works the qualities of sculptural reliefs. The artist treats black as a material, a conductor of light and dark, rather than as a color to be used in the service of representation. Each painting in the exhibition differs radically in its reflection and absorption of ambient light, creating a dramatic interplay across its surface. Incorporating both darkness and radiance, the “Outrenoir” paintings channel ambient light across their surfaces, creating subtle and dramatic perceptual transformations. Soulages never repeats a canvas; rather, he attempts with each work to inspire a unique visual and emotional response. For him, what lies beyond black is light.

Pierre Soulages was born on 24/12/1919, in Rodez, in the south of France. As a child, he was fascinated by the Celtic carvings in the local museum and the architecture of the abbey of Sainte-Foy in nearby Conques, and these early impressions would continue to surface throughout his career. In 1938, inspired by the works of Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso, he enrolled in the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, but he was disappointed by the traditional instruction and soon moved back to Rodez. In 1946, having served in the military during World War II, he moved to Courbevoie, outside Paris. There he set up a studio and began producing abstract works, characterized by their heavy black brush strokes. He befriended other artists, including Hans Hartung, Francis Picabia, and Fernand Léger and had his first exhibition at the Salon des Surindépendants in 1947. His first solo exhibition was two years later at the Galerie Lydia Conti in Paris. During that period Soulages also designed sets and costumes for Roger Vailland’s play “Héloïse et Abélard” (1949), for Graham Greene’s “The Power and the Glory” (1951), and for ballets. As his reputation expanded and he gained representation (1954–66) with New York dealer Samuel Kootz, major American museums began purchasing his paintings, beginning with the Phillips Collection in 1951 and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1952. His painting style shifted subtly over his long career, becoming looser and more gestural in the 1950s and focusing almost entirely on the texture and brushwork of black oil paint on large canvases in his works after 1979, works he called outrenoir, literally “beyond black”.

Photo: Pierre Soulages, Peinture 175 x 222 cm, 20 juillet 2020, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 68⅞ x 87⅜ inches / 175 x 222 cm, © Pierre Soulages, Courtesy the artist and Lévy Gorvy Gallery

Info: Lévy Gorvy Gallery, Slat House, The Royal Poinciana Plaza, 50 Cocoanut Row, Suite 122, Palm Beach, Duration: 10/4-31/5/2021, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 11:00-18:00, Sat 10:00-19:00, sun 11:00-17:00, www.levygorvy.com