Photo By Gail

A representative figure associated with Lyrical Abstraction in Paris, Georges Mathieu (1921 – 2012) adopted a gestural abstract style distinguished by his predominant use of calligraphic signs and unusually rapid mode of painting. In Black and White Abstract (La mort de la Reine Edith) (1957) the entangled swirling lines were applied directly onto the surface of the canvas from a paint tube. The artist’s sprouting, rhythmic, scribble-like marks sometimes interlace with larger brush strokes. From the early 1950s, Mathieu began to make art before large public audiences, documenting his performative actions through photography and film.

Photographed in the Guggenheim Museum in NYC.