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186
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Wolfgang PAALEN (Vienna 1907 – Taxco 1959)
See original version (French)
186
-
Wolfgang PAALEN (Vienna 1907 – Taxco 1959)
See original version (French)
Estimate €18,000 - €20,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Wolfgang PAALEN (Vienna 1907 – Taxco 1959)
Untitled (Messenger)
Created in 1949
Oil and smoke on canvas
61 x 46 cm
A certificate of authenticity by Dr Andreas Neufert will be provided to the purchaser.
Provenance: Private collection, Paris
Bibliography:
Andreas Neufert, Wolfgang Paalen, Im Inneren des Wals, Vienna/New York (Springer), p.324 ill. no. 49.07
In this 1949 work, Wolfgang Paalen combines oil painting with the technique of smoke application, which he had been developing since the 1930s. By allowing the smoke to mark the surface of the canvas, he introduces an element of chance and a direct imprint, breaking with traditional painting methods.
Although still structured by a slightly figurative framework, the composition foreshadows artistic explorations that would come to the fore in the 1950s and 1960s: gestural abstraction, an interest in the trace, materiality and combustion. Certain post-war experimental practices form part of this development: Yves Klein would explore the potential of fire in his works from the late 1950s onwards, and Otto Piene, co-founder of the ZERO group, would use smoke as a genuine pictorial tool.
The work thus emerges as a milestone between Surrealism and the post-war avant-garde, illustrating Paalen’s unique position as an artist who was both firmly rooted in his era and ahead of some of the major turning points in 20th-century art.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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