Soulages. Les papiers du musée
Pierre Encrevé
When an artist is over 90 years old, and as famous a painter as Soulages, we would think there is not much left to be discovered. It is not the case: the brand new musée Soulages, inaugurated in Rodez at the end of the month of May, presents a permanent collection of 118 papers. These are ink drawings, and actually made with walnut peel, a technique which Soulages turned to as of 1947. Indeed these works have already been shown before, but so briefly and so long ago– in particular during the travelling exhibition of French art in Germany in 1947 – that it seems we have never seen them. They seem brand new: that is the privilege of age. They were protected in drawers, and thus kept their immaculate white colour. The author has known Soulages’ work for 35 years and speaks of an almost mystic revelation, as if he were discovering the wall paintings of a Paleolithic grotto.
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Review published in the newsletter #352 - from 26 June 2014 to 2 July 2014