Lot Essay
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Tanguy moved to America. Once there he lived with the Surrealist artist, Kay Sage, in New York and then in Woodbury, a small village in Connecticut. Although this move did not occasion a break in his style, Tanguy's tendancy towards brighter colour, which had already become apparent in his paintings of the 1930s, continued to increase once in America.
Le Prodigue contains all the distinctive elements which make up Tanguy's Surrealist 'mindscapes': the view across what resembles a desert wasteland, with a deep foreground plain and blurred horizon, and the presence of strange biomorphic forms Breton referred to as 'être-objets'. In this work Tanguy's solid forms are rendered in bold, primary colours, possibly inspired by the landscapes of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, which the artist saw for the first time during this period. In this work we see white and grey as the underlying hues, against which much stronger colours are set. Tanguy acknowledged this change in his palette, in an interview in 1946 he said: "Pourquoi cette intensification de couleur? Je ne sais. Mais je reconnaîs qu'il y a eu un grand changement. Cela provient peut-être de la lumière. J'ai aussi le sentiment d'un espace plus large. Ici, je dispose de plus de place. C'est bien pour cela que je suis venu." (P. Waldberg, Yves Tanguy, Brussels, 1977, p. 217-8). Works completed over this period are some of Tanguy's richest and most finely wrought pieces: "Peu après son arrivée aux Etats-Unis apparaîssent dans ses tableaux des personnages ou constructions de haute taille, bizarrement articulés par des boules, des tendons et des cartilages et dont les masses superpossés se moirent d'irisations et de poussières lumineuses..." (ibid, p. 267-9).
Tanguy often painted several canvases on the same theme, and one group, obviously linked to this work, is entitled "Le Prodigue ne revient Jamais I-IV". The forms are, however, far larger in Le Prodigue and dominate the landscape. The actual title is clearly an allusion to the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son, and although Tanguy's forms are not personalised with anatomical features or details they are almost recognisable in this particular work. However, we should not expect Tanguy's imagery to be as specifically literary as that of other illusionistic Surrealists, as William S. Rubin acknowledges: "If Tanguy's style is realistic, his visual poetry is abstract." (W. S. Rubin, Dada, Surrealism and their Heritage, New York, 1968, p. 102)
Le Prodigue contains all the distinctive elements which make up Tanguy's Surrealist 'mindscapes': the view across what resembles a desert wasteland, with a deep foreground plain and blurred horizon, and the presence of strange biomorphic forms Breton referred to as 'être-objets'. In this work Tanguy's solid forms are rendered in bold, primary colours, possibly inspired by the landscapes of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, which the artist saw for the first time during this period. In this work we see white and grey as the underlying hues, against which much stronger colours are set. Tanguy acknowledged this change in his palette, in an interview in 1946 he said: "Pourquoi cette intensification de couleur? Je ne sais. Mais je reconnaîs qu'il y a eu un grand changement. Cela provient peut-être de la lumière. J'ai aussi le sentiment d'un espace plus large. Ici, je dispose de plus de place. C'est bien pour cela que je suis venu." (P. Waldberg, Yves Tanguy, Brussels, 1977, p. 217-8). Works completed over this period are some of Tanguy's richest and most finely wrought pieces: "Peu après son arrivée aux Etats-Unis apparaîssent dans ses tableaux des personnages ou constructions de haute taille, bizarrement articulés par des boules, des tendons et des cartilages et dont les masses superpossés se moirent d'irisations et de poussières lumineuses..." (ibid, p. 267-9).
Tanguy often painted several canvases on the same theme, and one group, obviously linked to this work, is entitled "Le Prodigue ne revient Jamais I-IV". The forms are, however, far larger in Le Prodigue and dominate the landscape. The actual title is clearly an allusion to the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son, and although Tanguy's forms are not personalised with anatomical features or details they are almost recognisable in this particular work. However, we should not expect Tanguy's imagery to be as specifically literary as that of other illusionistic Surrealists, as William S. Rubin acknowledges: "If Tanguy's style is realistic, his visual poetry is abstract." (W. S. Rubin, Dada, Surrealism and their Heritage, New York, 1968, p. 102)