Georges Mathieu

The artist

The self-proclaimed founder of lyrical abstraction, Georges Mathieu shot to fame in the 1950s and 1970s before finding himself into purgatory until his death in 2012. Pioneering a form of gestural abstraction that was close to performance, Georges Mathieu, famed-provocateur, with his dazzling brilliance, developed a form of painting where speed and spontaneity is key. Sometimes working in front of the cameras, his work exhibited throughout the world, he was famed for his large-scale formats where the unadulterated paint spurts from the tube. He brought a new brand of freedom to the creative gesture and gave birth to a brand new style, somewhere between esoteric sign, calligraphy and raw energy. The titles, often steeped in historical, musical and geographical references, add a poetic quality, both sophisticated and offbeat.


Exhibitions

Biography

Born in 1921 in Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais), France
Died in 2012 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France

EDUCATION
Lille University, France

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2018
Les années 1960-1970, Galerie Templon, Paris, France

2014
Vers l’abstraction lyrique, Château-Musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer, France

2006
Petite Écurie du Château de Versailles, Versailles, France
Espace d’Art Contemporain Fernet Branca, Saint-Louis, France

2003
Rétrospective, Galleria Credito Valtellinese, Milan, Italy
Palais Bénédictine, Fécamp, France
Salle Saint- Georges et Cathédrale Saint-Paul, Liège, Belgium

2002
Rétrospective, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France

1991
Galleria arte 92, Milan, Italy

1990
Galleria d’arte Elleni, Bergamo, Italy
Stockholm Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden

1989
Galleria dello scudo, Verona, Italy
Ermitage, San Petersburg, Russia
Centro Culturale Sant’Andrea, Savona, Italy
Galleria Art Valley, Forte dei Marmi, Italy
Grand Palais, Paris, France

1988
Galleria Narciso, Turin, Italy
Galleria De Crescenzo, Rome, Italy
Huber Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

1987
Findlay Gallery, New York, USA
Galleria La Loggia, Bologna, Italy
Galleria De Crescenzo, Rome, Italy

1984
Hôtel Meridien, Singapore

1980
Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Musée de la Poste, Paris, France

1979
Dominion Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Wildestein, New York, USA

1978
Grand Palais, Paris, France
Festival d’Art Lyrique, Aix-en-Provence, France

1977
Galeria Punto, Valencia, Spain
Galeria Valera, Bilbao, Spain
Kursaal, Ostenda, Belgium
Festival International, Istanbul, Turkey

1976
Musée Picasso, Antibes, France
Galeria Beaubourg, Barcelona, Spain

1974
Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France

1973
Opera, Berlin, Germany

1972
Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon

1971
Galerie Stadler, Paris, France
Lalikata Academy, New Dehli, India

1967
Galerie Argos, Nantes, France
Kunstverein, Köln, Germany
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France

1966
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France

1965
Gimpel & Hanover, Zurich, Switzerland
Court Gallery, Copenaghen, Denmark
K. B. Gallery, Oslo, Norway
Galleria il Milione, Milan, Italy

1963
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Galerie Art et Culture, Geneva, Belgium

1962
Bezalel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Neue Galerie in Künstlerhaus, München, Germany
Galleria La Bussola, Turin, Italy
Galleria l’Ariete, Milan, Italy
Galleria La Loggia, Bologna, Italy
Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

1961
Presidential Palace, Beirut, Lebanon

1960
Museu de Arte, São Paolo, Brasil
Ateneo, Madrid, Spain
New London Gallery, London, UK
Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy

1959
Kunstverein, Colonia, Köln, Germany
Galleria San Babila, Milan, Italy
Haus Lange Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Musée de l’Athénee, Geneva, Switzerland
Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bonino Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1958
Schmela Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
Art Latin Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Galerie Grange, Lyon, France
Chichio Haller Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland
Galleria Castelnuovo, Ascona, Switzerland
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Liège, Belgium

1957
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, Belgium
Shirokiya Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Daimaru Gallery, Osaka, Japan
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy
Galerie Helios Art, Brussels, Belgium
Galleria Selecta, Rome, Italy

1956
Galerie Pierre, Paris, France
Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK

1955
Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York, USA

1954
Kootz Gallery, New York, USA
Galerie Rive Droite, Paris, France
Art Club, Chicago, US

1953
Galerie Marcel Evrard, Lille, France

1952
Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
Stable Gallery, New York, USA

1951
Véhémences Confrontées, Galerie Dausset, Paris, Germany
1950
Galerie René Drouin, Paris, France

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2017
Le geste et la matière, une abstraction “autre”, Paris, 1945-1965, Centre Pompidou / Fondation Clément, Martinique

2008
Pensieri Ordinati, Bonioni Arte, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Estetika. Forma & segno. Da Renoir a De Chirico, Villa Ponti, Fondazione Art Museo, Arona, Switzerland

2007
Nel segno della materia, Palazzo De Sanctis, Castellalto, Italy
Sei mostre in contemporanea, Satura, Palazzo Stella, Genoa “Liberi Segni”, Galleria Biasutti & Biasutti, Turin, Italy

1999
Posizioni. Museiondocumenta 1999: opera dalla collezione, Bolzen

1959
Karel Appel, Georges Mathieu, Mattia Moreni, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland

1948
H.W.P.S.M.T.B, Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris, France

1947
Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Paris, France
L’imaginaire, Galerie du Luxembourg, Paris, France
VI Salon de moins de 30 ans, Galerie des Beaux Arts, Paris, France

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS (SELECTION)

Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
MoMA, New-York, USA
Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg, France
Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
Musée d’arts de Nantes, France
Musée Picasso, Antibes, France
Musée de Grenoble, France
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
LaM, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France
Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany
Kunsthalle Praha, Prague, Czech Republic
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany
Städtische Kunstsammlungen und Wilhelm Hack Stiftung, Ludvigshafen, Germany
Moderne Galerie, Saarbrucken, Germany
Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Liège, Belgium
Musée d’Art Moderne, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Musée d’Art Moderne, São Paulo, Brasil
Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, Canada
Art Gallery, Ontario, Canada
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans, France
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France
Musée National Bezalel, Jérusalem, Israël
Musée de Tel-Aviv, Israël
Musée d’Art de Ohara, Kurashiki, Japan
Gutaï Pinacotheca, Osaka, Japan
Musée d’Art Moderne, Tokyo, Japan
Tate Gallery, Londres, UK
Kunsthaus, Basel, Switzerland
Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
The Art Institute, Chicago, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Los Angeles Country Museum, USA
Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
The Salomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, USA
Art Museum of Seattle, USA
Philips Collections, Washington, D.C, USA
La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California, USA
Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian Institution), Washington, D.C, USA

Press Release

ArtPress - octobre 2018

Georges Mathieu

Charles-Arthur Boyer

Le Figaro - septembre 2018

Georges Mathieu entame sa renaissance

Béatrice de Rochebouët

La Gazette Drouot - septembre 2018

Georges Mathieu: les années 1960-1970

Céline Piettre


Artnet - septembre 2018

Meet the enigmatic French painter that inspired Daniel Templon to become a gallerist

L'Hebdo du Quotidien de l'Art - septembre 2018

Georges Mathieu, un marché inégal mais prometteur

Marine Vazzoler

Connaissance des arts - septembre 2018

Le grand retour de Georges Mathieu