拍品专文
Retour aux Sources must rank as one of the most ambitious and multifarious paintings ever undertaken by Alechinsky. Glorious in its rich colouration and bewilderingly intricate in its sinuous forms, it tells a story on an epic scale which is at once mesmerising in its obscurity, yet as evocative as a tale from a medieval illumination.
The picture was commissioned directly from Alechinsky by the present owner in 1973, whose father had been a friend of the Belgian artist's father. As such, its premise is deeply personal and the painting should be seen as an attempt by Alechinsky to explore the notion of paternity through his own memories and inner feelings towards his dead parent. The complexity of these emotions is further embellished by the fact that the painting was begun in Turkey during a private pilgrimage by the artist to a country which had special significance to his father. Alechinsky's impressions of Turkey imbue the painting with a heady exoticism.
In response to a letter from the present owner in 1974, Alechinsky offers the following thoughts on Retour aux Sources: "Je pourrais essayer de décoder les images, bien qu'il faille plus recul dans le temps et que, de toute manière, on aille très vite vers des malentendus et mal-vus.
Les mots entraînent d'autres images que les images-même dont ils s'inspirent. .
Le peintre qui explore laisse davantage d'énigmes que de réponses...
Votre lettre me demandant de le peindre débute par: Votre père - médecin - était ami du mien." et vous proposiez le thème de la Maternité. Aurais-je peint une Paternité? Possible..
J'ai commencé ce tableau en août 1973 - et en Turquie, pays où mon père s'arrêta une première fois, venant de Russie pour tenter de poursuivre ses études de médecine. Il n'avait jamais pu refaire ce voyage; nous avions projeté de le faire ensemble. J'ai vraiment eu l'impression, l'illusion, de le vivre à sa place. "Reproductions humaine".. des sensations..." ("I could try to decode the images, although one would need more perspective of time, and anyway one rapidly rushes towards misunderstandings and bad feelings. The words provoke other images than the ones they are inspired from. The painter who explores leaves more enigmas than answers.
Your letter asking me to paint it begins with: "Your father - a doctor - was a friend of yours." and you proposed the theme of maternity. Would I have painted a paternity? Possible..
I began this painting in August 1973 - and in Turkey, a country where my father stopped the first time, on his way from Russia in order to pursue his medical studies. He had never been able to redo this journey; we had planned to do it together. I really had the impression, the illusion of doing it in his place. "Human reproduction.. sensations..")
In trying to transcribe his personal memories and sensations in Retour aux Sources, Alechinsky uses a technique and format which he first developed in 1965 and which has since become his most popular to date. The picture is executed in acrylic on paper and then laid down on a canvas support. This medium allows the artist a supreme degree of fluidity so as to match the calligraphic paintings of the Japanese masters Alechinsky so admires. Around the central image, the Belgian artist paints a series of marginal tableaux, much as a medeival illuminist would have embellished his text with enchanting illustrations which serve as a sub-plot to further embroider the story. Whereas other "margin" paintings by Alechinsky concentrate on the central panel and often delineate the margins in black and white, a schematic and fleeting image fills the centre in Retour aux Sources. It is the rich tapestry of border imagery the dominates and which draws the viewer's eye as though he was reading a narrative in hieroglyphics.
The picture was commissioned directly from Alechinsky by the present owner in 1973, whose father had been a friend of the Belgian artist's father. As such, its premise is deeply personal and the painting should be seen as an attempt by Alechinsky to explore the notion of paternity through his own memories and inner feelings towards his dead parent. The complexity of these emotions is further embellished by the fact that the painting was begun in Turkey during a private pilgrimage by the artist to a country which had special significance to his father. Alechinsky's impressions of Turkey imbue the painting with a heady exoticism.
In response to a letter from the present owner in 1974, Alechinsky offers the following thoughts on Retour aux Sources: "Je pourrais essayer de décoder les images, bien qu'il faille plus recul dans le temps et que, de toute manière, on aille très vite vers des malentendus et mal-vus.
Les mots entraînent d'autres images que les images-même dont ils s'inspirent. .
Le peintre qui explore laisse davantage d'énigmes que de réponses...
Votre lettre me demandant de le peindre débute par: Votre père - médecin - était ami du mien." et vous proposiez le thème de la Maternité. Aurais-je peint une Paternité? Possible..
J'ai commencé ce tableau en août 1973 - et en Turquie, pays où mon père s'arrêta une première fois, venant de Russie pour tenter de poursuivre ses études de médecine. Il n'avait jamais pu refaire ce voyage; nous avions projeté de le faire ensemble. J'ai vraiment eu l'impression, l'illusion, de le vivre à sa place. "Reproductions humaine".. des sensations..." ("I could try to decode the images, although one would need more perspective of time, and anyway one rapidly rushes towards misunderstandings and bad feelings. The words provoke other images than the ones they are inspired from. The painter who explores leaves more enigmas than answers.
Your letter asking me to paint it begins with: "Your father - a doctor - was a friend of yours." and you proposed the theme of maternity. Would I have painted a paternity? Possible..
I began this painting in August 1973 - and in Turkey, a country where my father stopped the first time, on his way from Russia in order to pursue his medical studies. He had never been able to redo this journey; we had planned to do it together. I really had the impression, the illusion of doing it in his place. "Human reproduction.. sensations..")
In trying to transcribe his personal memories and sensations in Retour aux Sources, Alechinsky uses a technique and format which he first developed in 1965 and which has since become his most popular to date. The picture is executed in acrylic on paper and then laid down on a canvas support. This medium allows the artist a supreme degree of fluidity so as to match the calligraphic paintings of the Japanese masters Alechinsky so admires. Around the central image, the Belgian artist paints a series of marginal tableaux, much as a medeival illuminist would have embellished his text with enchanting illustrations which serve as a sub-plot to further embroider the story. Whereas other "margin" paintings by Alechinsky concentrate on the central panel and often delineate the margins in black and white, a schematic and fleeting image fills the centre in Retour aux Sources. It is the rich tapestry of border imagery the dominates and which draws the viewer's eye as though he was reading a narrative in hieroglyphics.