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Black Not Black
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I enjoyed reading Frances Guerin's reactions to the Pompidou retrospective, and the remark that Soulages is the most Amercian of all french painters,and share too the author's admiration for Rothko's work, but insist on not erroneously searching for corresponding resonances between the two artists' canvases, as (correctly pointed out) the very surface of Soulages' paintings is paramount; any 'depth' encountered is in his play of light redirected back off the pigment to the viewer, in that 'space between' he has often talked about. Any emotional interaction is fed by that distance created not by paint but by light. If Rothko succeeded in creating pulsing, breathing membranes of paintings, then Soulages has worked - with the tools of the building-site but the exquisite precision of a plastic surgeon - on the skin.
I've studied Soulages for a number of years and acknowledge the strength of his convictions in focussing on l"outrenoire" since 1979, and the evidence that such a pursuit does not lead to any sort of artistic or conceptual 'impasse' but continues to fascinate; he is mining a rich vein ! To resume his life's work (and the Pompidou show is far from exhaustive, but one would need enormous spaces! I have just also visited the retrospective of his work on paper, at the MAM Strasbourg)as him being the painter of black - as everyone is prone to do - is understanding short of the mark. The large final room at the Beaubourg resonates with a multitude of vibrations from the big suspended 'polyptychs' and it is a marvel; light is the subject (though a big criticism l reserve is that most works are under artificial, therefore static, lighting) and we are in a completely different sphere to when we walk(ed) into the main room of Rothko's retrospective at the Tate Modern last winter. We are faced with presences, both physical and metaphysical, but what emmanates is different, this is another language at work, another form of expression, and there is nothing dark about it.
As...
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