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301
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Maurice Rocher (1918–1995) Couple 1976 Oil on canvas, signed…
See original version (French)
301
-
Maurice Rocher (1918–1995) Couple 1976 Oil on canvas, signed…
See original version (French)
Estimate €600 - €800
Voluntary lot
Description
Maurice Rocher (1918–1995) Couple 1976 Oil on canvas, signed top right, countersigned, dated and titled on the reverse of the canvas 54 x 65 cm Condition report: Framed “Following a path seldom trodden save by Rouault, Soutine and Permeke, Maurice Rocher established himself as the portraitist of a suffering humanity [...] Bodies and faces are slashed by a brush that exploits the full richness of a Goyesque palette. Flashings of black and red, streaked with white, dictate the convulsive forms of beings of flesh and blood.”
Lydia Harambourg
A painter who pushed the boundaries of Expressionism in the second half of the 20th century, Maurice Rocher’s work also takes on a sacred dimension: from 1936 to 1939, he trained under Maurice Denis and Georges Desvallières. His work centres on major themes such as crucifixions, churches, ‘flesh-like’ faces and nudes… The religious and the carnal, birth and death mark the pictorial explorations of a committed and fierce artist who made texture his ally of choice!
Winner of the Prix de la Jeune Peinture in 1952, a resident at the Casa Velasquez, and represented in countless public collections (including that of the Vatican!), Maurice Rocher has nevertheless been somewhat forgotten by the younger generation… His fierce determination, his uncompromising nature and his exacting standards are not unrelated to this; not everyone was always willing to engage with such a character. He is, however, one of the great French Expressionist painters, and his work will, sooner or later, emerge from the shadow in which it currently seems trapped.
See original version (French)
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Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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