Robert Detheux (1932_2010) Forceps, We Force Ourselves To Live - Surrealist Figure - 2007
Artist: Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
Robert Detheux (1932–2010) – Forceps, We Force Ourselves to Live – Spectral Figure – 2007
Artist:Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work:Forceps, on se force à vivre – Spectral Figure and Extracted Form
Date:2007
Signed and dated “Detheux 07” in the lower left corner.
Technique:Drawing (mixed media: graphite, white highlights, smudges) on prepared, tinted, and speckled paper. The artist brings the figure to life within the very material of the support: stains, reserved areas, and a fine white thread that connects the two elements like a cord.
Dimensions:47 × 35.5 cm
Condition:Very good overall condition.
The contrasts between the speckled ochre background, the grays of the body, and the white highlights are beautifully preserved. The spots, scrapes, and surface imperfections are an integral part of the artist’s artistic language.
No visible tears or missing sections.
Sold unframed.
Signature:Signed and dated “Detheux 07” in the lower left corner.
Provenance:From the artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
“Forceps, on se force à vivre” series.
Description:A rare drawing from 2007 belonging to the “Forceps, on se force à vivre” series.
On the right, a spectral female figure stands, already beginning to dissolve: her lower body is transforming into a cluster of organs, roots, or suspended entrails.
On the left floats a skull-like or embryonic form, extracted and connected to the figure by an extremely fine white thread.The series’ title says it all: we force life; we tear it away. The forceps are not depicted; they have become the very gesture of the drawing.
What at first appears to be a simple spectral nude becomes a scene of extraction: the body that remains and what has been pulled from it. Apparition and relic, birth and remains in the same space.The speckled background is not merely a setting; it contributes to this gentle violence. The figure is never fully drawn; it emerges from the smudges and white highlights, then retreats back into the material.
This oscillation between emergence and disappearance is quintessentially Detheuxian.
A rare work from his late period (2000–2010), characterized by hybrid figures and apparitions rendered with great mastery. Intimate format, powerful theme, poetic density: a work that will appeal to collectors drawn to the late Belgian surrealist movement, as well as to themes of the body, forced birth, and invisible bonds.
Artist’s BiographyBorn in Brussels in 1932 and deceased in 2010, Robert Detheux was a singular, demanding, and deeply endearing figure in 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Institut Saint-Luc School of Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic arts at the Académie de Tournai until 1996, while developing a personal body of work characterized by great coherence and remarkable freedom.
Artist:Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work:Forceps, on se force à vivre – Spectral Figure and Extracted Form
Date:2007
Signed and dated “Detheux 07” in the lower left corner.
Technique:Drawing (mixed media: graphite, white highlights, smudges) on prepared, tinted, and speckled paper. The artist brings the figure to life within the very material of the support: stains, reserved areas, and a fine white thread that connects the two elements like a cord.
Dimensions:47 × 35.5 cm
Condition:Very good overall condition.
The contrasts between the speckled ochre background, the grays of the body, and the white highlights are beautifully preserved. The spots, scrapes, and surface imperfections are an integral part of the artist’s artistic language.
No visible tears or missing sections.
Sold unframed.
Signature:Signed and dated “Detheux 07” in the lower left corner.
Provenance:From the artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
“Forceps, on se force à vivre” series.
Description:A rare drawing from 2007 belonging to the “Forceps, on se force à vivre” series.
On the right, a spectral female figure stands, already beginning to dissolve: her lower body is transforming into a cluster of organs, roots, or suspended entrails.
On the left floats a skull-like or embryonic form, extracted and connected to the figure by an extremely fine white thread.The series’ title says it all: we force life; we tear it away. The forceps are not depicted; they have become the very gesture of the drawing.
What at first appears to be a simple spectral nude becomes a scene of extraction: the body that remains and what has been pulled from it. Apparition and relic, birth and remains in the same space.The speckled background is not merely a setting; it contributes to this gentle violence. The figure is never fully drawn; it emerges from the smudges and white highlights, then retreats back into the material.
This oscillation between emergence and disappearance is quintessentially Detheuxian.
A rare work from his late period (2000–2010), characterized by hybrid figures and apparitions rendered with great mastery. Intimate format, powerful theme, poetic density: a work that will appeal to collectors drawn to the late Belgian surrealist movement, as well as to themes of the body, forced birth, and invisible bonds.
Artist’s BiographyBorn in Brussels in 1932 and deceased in 2010, Robert Detheux was a singular, demanding, and deeply endearing figure in 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Institut Saint-Luc School of Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic arts at the Académie de Tournai until 1996, while developing a personal body of work characterized by great coherence and remarkable freedom.
190 €
Period: 20th century
Style: Other Style
Condition: Good condition
Width: 35.5
Height: 47
Reference (ID): 1818805
Availability: In stock
Print
