Lot Essay
Le Théâtre aux Armées is one of the earliest examples of Alechinsky's celebrated "margin" paintings, in which the artist surrounds a garishly coloured central composition with a border of related smaller images generally drawn in black on white. Glorious in its rich colouration and bewilderingly intricate in its sinuous forms, Le Théâtre aux Armées tells a story on an epic scale which is both mesmerising in its obscurity and as evocative as a tale from a medieval illumination.
Leon Arkus describes the process by which Le Théâtre aux Armées 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, Pittsburgh 1987, p. 7).
Le Théâtre aux Armées demonstrates the hallucinogenic fluidity that was achievable through this technique. Around the central image, the Belgian artist paints a series of marginal tableaux, much as a medieval illuminist would have embellished his text with enchanting illustrations which serve as a sub-plot to further embroider the story. 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.
In an interview with Michael Gibson, Alechinsky explains his use of border imagery as a means "to annex the frame, to make it part of the picture, rather (...) in the manner that an engraver uses a border in his woodcut to prevent the roller from touching areas that have been hollowed out. This is the sort of limitation that can turn out to be an aesthetic advantage - depending on the engraver's talent. I started out as a printer and I have made use of some of the craftsman's notions, tricks or habits in my painting. Marginalia - in the form of notes, addenda, subtitles, summaries - have existed ever since the invention of the book. Proof corrections find their proper place in the margin too; they indicate and countermand alongside the column of type. Authors use the margin to modify the text on which they are working. It can be quite spectacular at times." (In: Pierre Alechinsky: Margin and Center, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 1987, pp. 15-16).
Leon Arkus describes the process by which Le Théâtre aux Armées 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, Pittsburgh 1987, p. 7).
Le Théâtre aux Armées demonstrates the hallucinogenic fluidity that was achievable through this technique. Around the central image, the Belgian artist paints a series of marginal tableaux, much as a medieval illuminist would have embellished his text with enchanting illustrations which serve as a sub-plot to further embroider the story. 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.
In an interview with Michael Gibson, Alechinsky explains his use of border imagery as a means "to annex the frame, to make it part of the picture, rather (...) in the manner that an engraver uses a border in his woodcut to prevent the roller from touching areas that have been hollowed out. This is the sort of limitation that can turn out to be an aesthetic advantage - depending on the engraver's talent. I started out as a printer and I have made use of some of the craftsman's notions, tricks or habits in my painting. Marginalia - in the form of notes, addenda, subtitles, summaries - have existed ever since the invention of the book. Proof corrections find their proper place in the margin too; they indicate and countermand alongside the column of type. Authors use the margin to modify the text on which they are working. It can be quite spectacular at times." (In: Pierre Alechinsky: Margin and Center, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 1987, pp. 15-16).