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Jean Messagier (1920–1999)
Have you ever seen grasshoppers drowning in a buttercup?, circa 1990
Have you ever seen grasshoppers drowning in a buttercup?, circa 1990
Gel - Acrylic and pastel on paper, signed and titled in the bottom right-hand corner
118 x 89 cm
Galerie Larock-Granoff, Paris (according to a label affixed to the back of the work)
Private collection, Paris
We would like to thank Elie Messagier for the details he has provided regarding this lot.
From 1969 onwards, and for nearly a decade, the painter Jean Messagier developed a unique technique which he called ‘gel’. Keen to explore new interactions between artistic gesture and natural forces, he subjected some of his acrylic-on-paper compositions to the rigours of winter. Exposed to the cold and the elements, these works thus continued to evolve under the influence of frost, leaving a decisive element of chance in their completion.
The work we are presenting for sale is emblematic of this research. Created using this technique, it demonstrates the artist’s desire to combine pictorial mastery with the intervention of nature, giving each composition a unique and unpredictable character.