Marcel Bouqueton (1921-2006), Red, 1953, Oil On Panel

Marcel Bouqueton (1921-2006)
Rouge, 1953
Oil on panel
Signed and dated lower right; signed, dated and titled on the back
Dimensions of the work: 54 x 81 cm
Small traces of wear on the original frame, small paint hops and small scratches

Born in Constantine in 1921, Marcel Bouqueton spent his childhood in Algeria . Showing an early interest in drawing and painting, he joined the School of Fine Arts in Algiers in 1938. Arrived in Paris in 1946, he continued his training at the School of Fine Arts. Back in Algeria, he set off on his own to discover the landscapes of Kabylia and the Aurès which will deeply mark his painting. Before the war of independence broke out, Marcel Bouqueton settled permanently in the Paris region. He exhibited for the first time at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in 1956 and received the Félix Fénéon Art Prize.

Emancipating himself from the academicism of the School of Algiers, which remained on the sidelines of the changes experienced by Western painting, Marcel Bouqueton is one of the artists who left their mark on the history of art in the Maghreb. Turning away from figurative art in 1952, he belongs to the New School of Paris, which claims to be post-war abstract art. Several critics of the time, including Georges Bousaille, were attentive to the artist's work, praising the sensitivity and the accuracy of the tones of his landscapes which gradually moved away from the motif.

Rouge, the oil on panel that we are offering is of particular interest in the work of Marcel Bouqueton. Produced in 1953, this work testifies to the artist's desire to compose an unprecedented vision on the surface of the canvas. Drawing inspiration from the memory of the Mediterranean light of his native Algeria, he focuses on the ordering of shapes and pure colors by rigorously studying the structure of the composition thanks to preparatory drawings (of which we present an example in our selection of works on paper). The large flat areas of color are delimited by clear lines that Marcel Bouqueton subsequently abandons. We find these dark circles only sparsely at the top and to the left of our composition. The artist also develops a harmonious chromaticism imbued with light, using a reduced palette of warm colors, oranges, ochres, reds and browns which will henceforth give their name to the works.