Lot Essay
L'or du Rien is one of the earliest examples of Alechinsky's celebrated "margin" paintings, in which the artist surrounds an acid -coloured central composition with a border of related smaller images. At once monumental like a gothic altar-piece or medieval tapestry, at the same time its format allows for the minutest incident or comic character to be described and provides the painting as a whole with a constant flurry of additional subtexts and themes.
Pierre Alechinsky was one of the youngest and most talented members of the CoBrA movement. While many of the other artists in the group failed to emerge internationally after its demise in 1952, his best and most innovative work would only come to fruition in the 1960s. These pictures were first painted directly on canvas and then more substantially using thinned acrylic on paper laid down on a canvas support.
Alechinsky had become heavily influenced by the calligraphy of Chinese and Japanese painting. Just as the Surrealists looked to automatic writing in order to unlock the subconscious, Alechinsky saw in the gestural brushmarks of Oriental art a method that was both spontaneous and would give free rein to his inner vision. He developed a technique, whereby he would place large paper sheets on the floor and like a Japanese master, would draw his imagery in short bursts of concentrated energy.
Leon Arkus describes the process by which L'or du Rien would have been created: "Pierre Alechinsky leans over the painting on the studio floor, his long Japanese brush poised in his left hand. Suddenly his meditative stance is broken by a rapid act of drawing-painting. A copious flow of pigment spreads over his paper - it knows with certainty where it is going. Alechinsky pauses. And once again channels his impulses in a sequence of strokes that spawn bold arabesques and fantastic creatures. There is seemingly no end to his improvisation." (in: Pierre Alechinsky: Paintings and Writings, Carnegie Institute 1987, p.7)
L'or du Rien demonstrates the hallucinogetic fluidity that was achievable through this technique. Around the central image of writhing monsters in a constantly shifting landscape, Alechinsky paints a series of marginal tableaux, much as a medieval illuminist would have embellished his text with amusing border illustrations. According to the artist, these smaller images were apparently inspired by the modifications found on printed text or marks on the edge of a lithographic plate which reveal "the working process". Their purpose was to clarify and enhance the activity presented in the central field. They can be read almost as a continuous comic-strip, leading the eye around the picture plane.
Pierre Alechinsky was one of the youngest and most talented members of the CoBrA movement. While many of the other artists in the group failed to emerge internationally after its demise in 1952, his best and most innovative work would only come to fruition in the 1960s. These pictures were first painted directly on canvas and then more substantially using thinned acrylic on paper laid down on a canvas support.
Alechinsky had become heavily influenced by the calligraphy of Chinese and Japanese painting. Just as the Surrealists looked to automatic writing in order to unlock the subconscious, Alechinsky saw in the gestural brushmarks of Oriental art a method that was both spontaneous and would give free rein to his inner vision. He developed a technique, whereby he would place large paper sheets on the floor and like a Japanese master, would draw his imagery in short bursts of concentrated energy.
Leon Arkus describes the process by which L'or du Rien would have been created: "Pierre Alechinsky leans over the painting on the studio floor, his long Japanese brush poised in his left hand. Suddenly his meditative stance is broken by a rapid act of drawing-painting. A copious flow of pigment spreads over his paper - it knows with certainty where it is going. Alechinsky pauses. And once again channels his impulses in a sequence of strokes that spawn bold arabesques and fantastic creatures. There is seemingly no end to his improvisation." (in: Pierre Alechinsky: Paintings and Writings, Carnegie Institute 1987, p.7)
L'or du Rien demonstrates the hallucinogetic fluidity that was achievable through this technique. Around the central image of writhing monsters in a constantly shifting landscape, Alechinsky paints a series of marginal tableaux, much as a medieval illuminist would have embellished his text with amusing border illustrations. According to the artist, these smaller images were apparently inspired by the modifications found on printed text or marks on the edge of a lithographic plate which reveal "the working process". Their purpose was to clarify and enhance the activity presented in the central field. They can be read almost as a continuous comic-strip, leading the eye around the picture plane.