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Paul Guterman 1940 - 2014, Paris, France Reclining Nude in Fantasy Landscape, 1966 Original Hand-Signed Etching - Dated 1966
Artist Name: Paul Guterman
Title: Reclining Nude in Fantasy Landscape
Signature Description:
Technique: Etching
Sheet Size: 33 x 503 cm / 12.99" x 19.69" inch
Frame: Unframed
Artist's Biography: DRAWING WITH FEELING By Anne Egger, Art Historian – Paris /
Translation Martyn Back Here is an artist whose work visits History
with unbridled imagination, and whose hand sets down what his eyes and heart
tell him, directly onto paper. A private dialogue, no doubt. But a dialogue we
can be party to! Let yourself go; take time to look , to visit, to explore
there are many doors to open, you just have to find the one for you! Intricate drawing, virtuoso pencil strokes,
heartrending emotion, stylized landscapes, levitating figures… Make no mistake!
This is no realist painter. His is a teeming inner world, changing form each
time he adopts a different technique. All this is set against a background of
recurrent and varied themes: childhood memories alternate with poetic or
literary encounters; mythological visions give way to biblical or historical
scenes. It is hardly surprising that his art is peopled with shady characters,
clowns, prostitutes, drunks and monuments reminiscent of Montmartre and
bohemian Paris. The painter bears witness to his time. A time that is sometimes disastrous, sometimes
violent. A time whose tiniest remnants of humanity the artist seeks to express.
Look carefully: the only dark thing in these drawings is the black pencil
strokes. And if nobody is laughing, it is surely because of the artist’s rage
as he sees people continuing to kill each other. Yet his war scenes transcend
horror: Woman and Love are brandished like flags of peace. These drawings
express a hatred of violence. It might all seem easy…a little too easy, perhaps? But I know of no artist or poet who has not
chosen this means of making people react, of exorcising the evil tides that
sweep us along, from Antiquity to the present day. It might be said that
ancient mythology is far away, that it is no longer familiar, no more than
biblical characters are… but these references are not always so distant from
us: remember Picasso’s Centaurs, Chagall’s prophets, Dali’s crucifixions,
Rouault’s prostitutes and Buffet’s sad clowns. From 1940 to 2004, a new œuvre was born, and
followed its own unique trajectory. In art today, there is total freedom. The
post-war years were dominated by abstraction and Surrealism, then New Realism,
Pop Art, Body Art, Land Art, Arte Povera and conceptual art gradually came to
the fore. Instead of this freedom, Paul Guterman has chosen the classic
discipline of drawing to recount his inner world and his emotions. His work has
known all the temptations of its time. It has drawn inspiration from all the
grand masters. But it has nevertheless followed its own path, a winding road
far from the vagaries of fashion, embracing a variety of techniques and sources
of inspiration. If we look carefully, it is tempting to pick up
on a detail, a reference, a name. The technique and the obsessions of Dali,
Picasso, Chagall, Delvaux, Buffet, Kirchner, as well as Brueghel and Rubens,
quickly spring to mind. We might even be reminded of Valentine Hugo’s owl or
Léonor Fini’s cat… But these references are so few and far between that it is
of little importance. When something seems vaguely familiar, it escapes us in
an instant. We think of Surrealism only to find ourselves
in epic fantasy; we pick up on a resemblance to an ancient statue only to
discover a caricature in the manner of Daumier; we look for a classic model and
find ourselves at the threshold of graphic novels or naïve art. We think we’re
looking at a copy of a postcard, but suddenly the drawing becomes more
intricate and we find ourselves fascinated by an unknown façade. We enter an
idyllic, almost dreamlike vision, only to be jolted awake by a brutal, incisive
pencil stroke. Some of his drawings are transcriptions,
haunted by his deepest feelings. They reflect the beginnings of a
metamorphosis: the transformation of suffering into something human. A place
where victim and torturer blend into one before disappearing forever. The
second part of his work reflects his simple joy in recording what he sees on
paper, on every street corner. Here he offers anecdotes, portraits,
light-hearted images, popular Paris street scenes that are affectionately
anonymous. Paul Guterman lived through History in his
imagination before discovering Paris with his eyes and his ever-wakeful spirit.
Streams of black ink are his way of taking part in the world. A careful
draughtsman, infinitely patient and absolutely sincere, he records his mental
landscape on paper. A world whose optimistic violence reflects the harmony of
the artist, his life and the vitality of his art. Though his art appeared at a time of political
and artistic turmoil, Paul Guterman has always committed himself entirely to
Humanity. For a long time he expressed himself in silence; today he faces the
inquisitive public eye alone. The man and his work are one.
* Anne Egger is a writer, essayist, iconographer
and exhibition curator. Her specialist fields are surrealism, the Middle Ages
and Flemish Art. One of her most notable works, a biography of the surrealist
Robert Desnos (Robert Desnos, des images et des mots. Fayard, 2007),
received two prizes: Thyde Monnier Scholarship (Société des Gens de Lettres,
fall 2007), and a silver medal from the Émile Faguet Prize (Académie française,
2008). Additional Information: PAUL GUTERMAN: 60 ANS D'EFFERVESCENCE ARTISTIQUE Documentaire de 12 minutes sur l'artiste Paul Guterman, réalisé par Yann Piquer. Musique originale : Barry Allen Rowe. Première exposition rétrospective à la Galerie BE-Espace (Brian Elliott Rowe, Directeur). Une aventure artistique et humaine, une virtuosité technique dans les disciplines du dessin, de la gravure et de la peinture. Des thèmes personnels, mythiques, historiques.... Un témoin de son temps. Représentation permanente des oeuvres de Paul Guterman à la Galerie BE-Espace. 12-minute documentary about the artist Paul Guterman, directed by Yann Piquer. Original music by Barry Allen Rowe. Payment Methods: PayPal, Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard), Bank Cheque. If you wish to send a personal cheque, please note that the item will not be shipped until the cheque clears. Shipping&Handling: All items are sent through registered mail or by E.M.S. Fast delivery service (up to 4-5 business days), depends on the weight and measures of the purchased item. You may add insurance for the item with an additional fee. Please e-mail us for other shipping methods.
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