Lot Essay
TO BE INCLUDED IN THE FORTHCOMING JEAN FAUTRIER CATALOGUE RAISONNé BEING PREPARED BY MME MARIE-JOSé LEFORT.
PERHAPS MORE THAN THAT OF ANY OTHER PAINTER, IT IS FAUTRIER'S MATERIAL APPROACH TO PAINTING THAT HAS COME TO BE SEEN AS FORMING THE ESSENCE OF THE INFORMEL MOVEMENT OF THE 1950'S. RECOGNISING THIS PARALLEL IN FAUTRIER'S WORK WITH THAT OF GEORG BATAILLE'S CONCEPT OF THE INFORM, THE CRITIC FRANCIS PONGE WROTE OF FAUTRIER'S TACHIST APPROACH TO THE MATERIAL QUALITY OF HIS ART, "FAUTRIER IS A CAT RELIEVING HIMSELF IN THE EMBERS. HE HAS HIS OWN PARTICULAR WAY OF BEING WILD. ONE OF THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC WAYS OF WILD BEASTS. THEIR WAY OF EXCREMENT: A PASTY, STICKY MORTAR. AND OVER IT, BY CLAWING THE ASHES, WITH A DASH OF ASH, (THEN THEY SNIFF), ALSO THEIR WAY OF RITUALLY COVERING OVER THE EXCREMENT". (FRANCIS PONGE: NOTE SUR LES OTAGES PEINTURES DE FAUTRIER, PARIS 1945, UNPAGINATED).
PERHAPS MORE THAN THAT OF ANY OTHER PAINTER, IT IS FAUTRIER'S MATERIAL APPROACH TO PAINTING THAT HAS COME TO BE SEEN AS FORMING THE ESSENCE OF THE INFORMEL MOVEMENT OF THE 1950'S. RECOGNISING THIS PARALLEL IN FAUTRIER'S WORK WITH THAT OF GEORG BATAILLE'S CONCEPT OF THE INFORM, THE CRITIC FRANCIS PONGE WROTE OF FAUTRIER'S TACHIST APPROACH TO THE MATERIAL QUALITY OF HIS ART, "FAUTRIER IS A CAT RELIEVING HIMSELF IN THE EMBERS. HE HAS HIS OWN PARTICULAR WAY OF BEING WILD. ONE OF THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC WAYS OF WILD BEASTS. THEIR WAY OF EXCREMENT: A PASTY, STICKY MORTAR. AND OVER IT, BY CLAWING THE ASHES, WITH A DASH OF ASH, (THEN THEY SNIFF), ALSO THEIR WAY OF RITUALLY COVERING OVER THE EXCREMENT". (FRANCIS PONGE: NOTE SUR LES OTAGES PEINTURES DE FAUTRIER, PARIS 1945, UNPAGINATED).