Lot Essay
Mort du Sanglier is one of the largest paintings from Fautrier's rare "Boar Suite", a series created during the artist's "Black Period" of 1926-1927.
Echoing the paintings of Velasquez and Zurbaran, Fautrier seems to revel in his stomach-churning subject matter. Here he lets himself paint freely, creating feathery brushstrokes in dry, white paint, which in the manner of the Spanish masters, stand out against the flat pitch-black background. The drama of the image is thereby reinforced against the darkness behind. It is thanks to the painter's virtuosity, displayed so starkly in these early works, that the onlooker enters into the scene so completely, feeling the fur of the animal, hearing its cries and witnessing its death at its most convulsive moments.
Again, as with 17th Century Spanish paintings, Fautrier creates a monumental composition using the single form of the slaughtered animal to hold one's attention. Through its downwardly-pointed snout, and the twists of the boar's body as it tries to escape its inevitable destiny, the power of the beast is displayed. Everything is centred around the wound of the animal which oozes a mass of reddish-brown paint.
Although formalistically the artist looks to these earlier styles, in essence the work is undeniably modern in tone. Alone in its torment, the boar comes to represent the violence and passion of Man in its heroic solitude. It is through the heightened sensitivity with which the image is presented that the animal is humanised. Fautrier has here created a haunting symbol of cruelty and stoic fortitude, whose spirit he would later explore more fully in his Otages and Partisan series.
Mort du Sanglier is a prime example of Fautrier's early painting style with which he created a breakthrough in visual representation. Such paintings helped to make Fautrier an artist who, in the words of Jacqueline Lafargue, was "cherished by an élite who recognised in him one of the most remarkable creators of this century". (Ex. Cat. Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Fautrier 1898-1964, May-September 1989, p. 11.)
Echoing the paintings of Velasquez and Zurbaran, Fautrier seems to revel in his stomach-churning subject matter. Here he lets himself paint freely, creating feathery brushstrokes in dry, white paint, which in the manner of the Spanish masters, stand out against the flat pitch-black background. The drama of the image is thereby reinforced against the darkness behind. It is thanks to the painter's virtuosity, displayed so starkly in these early works, that the onlooker enters into the scene so completely, feeling the fur of the animal, hearing its cries and witnessing its death at its most convulsive moments.
Again, as with 17th Century Spanish paintings, Fautrier creates a monumental composition using the single form of the slaughtered animal to hold one's attention. Through its downwardly-pointed snout, and the twists of the boar's body as it tries to escape its inevitable destiny, the power of the beast is displayed. Everything is centred around the wound of the animal which oozes a mass of reddish-brown paint.
Although formalistically the artist looks to these earlier styles, in essence the work is undeniably modern in tone. Alone in its torment, the boar comes to represent the violence and passion of Man in its heroic solitude. It is through the heightened sensitivity with which the image is presented that the animal is humanised. Fautrier has here created a haunting symbol of cruelty and stoic fortitude, whose spirit he would later explore more fully in his Otages and Partisan series.
Mort du Sanglier is a prime example of Fautrier's early painting style with which he created a breakthrough in visual representation. Such paintings helped to make Fautrier an artist who, in the words of Jacqueline Lafargue, was "cherished by an élite who recognised in him one of the most remarkable creators of this century". (Ex. Cat. Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Fautrier 1898-1964, May-September 1989, p. 11.)