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Lot Essay
The present work pays tribute to Jacques Villon, whom the artist met in 1926. Born Gaston Emile Duchamp in France in 1875, he adopted the pseudonym 'Jacques Villon' to distinguish himself from his siblings: Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876-1918). On moving to Montmartre, Paris, Villon abandoned his studies in law to work in graphic media, and in 1903 helped organise the drawing section of the first Salon d'Automne. Ten years later he exhibited at the Armory Show in New York, introducing European modern art to the United States and expanding his reputation as a cubist painter and printmaker.
Following their meeting in Paris, Villon introduced Hayter to engraving. A year later, in 1927, Hayter founded his own printmaking studio, 'Atelier 17'. At the centre of the avant-garde in Paris, he was closely involved in Surrealism and later Abstract Expressionism, attracting Chagall, Miró, Picasso, Rothko and Pollock amongst others to work alongside him in his illustrious workshop. Hayter's pioneering techniques exercised a profound influence on his students: the present work's intertwining linear rhythms bear a strong relationship to Pollock's 1940s drip paintings. Hayter's technical mastery was always at the service of a powerful imagination, and he continuously struggled to find new methods of expression; be it on canvas or on the plate. Homage à Jacques Villon exemplifies his desire to experiment with highly saturated fields of overlapping colour which characterised both his paintings and printing techniques in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Following their meeting in Paris, Villon introduced Hayter to engraving. A year later, in 1927, Hayter founded his own printmaking studio, 'Atelier 17'. At the centre of the avant-garde in Paris, he was closely involved in Surrealism and later Abstract Expressionism, attracting Chagall, Miró, Picasso, Rothko and Pollock amongst others to work alongside him in his illustrious workshop. Hayter's pioneering techniques exercised a profound influence on his students: the present work's intertwining linear rhythms bear a strong relationship to Pollock's 1940s drip paintings. Hayter's technical mastery was always at the service of a powerful imagination, and he continuously struggled to find new methods of expression; be it on canvas or on the plate. Homage à Jacques Villon exemplifies his desire to experiment with highly saturated fields of overlapping colour which characterised both his paintings and printing techniques in the late 1940s and 1950s.
