September 1- October 21, 2023

Hommage à Pierre Soulages

Galerie Boisserée

In Person Viewing:

Drususgasse 7-11, D-50667 Cologne
Germany

Online Viewing:

https://www.galerie-boisseree.com/

Friday, September 1, 2023 from 6 – 9 p.m.

The works from the graphic oeuvre of Pierre Soulages have been part of the exhibition repertoire of the Galerie Boisserée for many years. Extensive exhibitions and accompanying publications were realized in close personal contact with the artist in 2009 and 2014. On the occasion of its 185th anniversary, Galerie Boisserée is pleased to open the 2023/2024 exhibition season with the largest retrospective of Pierre Soulages’ graphic works to date.

Soulages’ graphic oeuvre is small, so building a representative collection of his work is all the more complex. Nevertheless, over the past ten years we have managed to create a well-curated collection that today represents almost half of Pierre Soulages’ prints.

With the currently largest exhibition of his graphics in the European art trade, the Boisserée Gallery offers collectors and art lovers a concentrated insight into the artistic work of the great French artist. With aquatint etchings, lithographs and screen prints, the exhibition includes all the techniques that Soulages used to realize his motifs.

“In fact, I’m passionate about both engraving and painting. When I’m passionate about something, I dedicate myself exclusively to that area. I have regular attacks of lithography, I have attacks of etching, as well as attacks of painting. ..” (Pierre Soulages, quoted from Encrevé, p. 44).

Born in 1919, Pierre Soulages is one of the most important French artists of the 20th century. In his long creative period he developed a unique painterly work. Based on the color black, he managed to reproduce the effect of light on his canvases in many ways. He dealt with the medium of prints just as deeply as with painting. Moments of chance and experiment dominate in his aquatint etchings, lithographs and screen prints. He uses embossing that defines a tactile, haptic structure in his dynamic compositions and forms. The motifs are permeated by gestural spontaneity and the tension between the dense surfaces and the empty spaces. This creates a play of light and darkness, similar to his paintings.
Pierre Soulages passed away on October 25, 2022 at the age of 102. On November 2, 2022, the French state paid tribute to his life and work in a commemoration ceremony in the Cour Carrée des Louvre in Paris.

International Fine Print Dealers Association