[SIGNOVERT Jean - FAUTRIER Jean] - Lot 13

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[SIGNOVERT Jean - FAUTRIER Jean] - Lot 13
[SIGNOVERT Jean - FAUTRIER Jean] Autograph manuscript dedicated to Jean Fautrier and his engraved work. No place, no date [circa 1960]. Autograph manuscript in blue ink on the pages of a spiral-bound, graph-ruled school notebook, extensively corrected, crossed out, and reworked. Attached is a stapled school notebook that served as the basis for these reflections. An exceptional, previously unpublished account by Jean Signovert on Jean Fautrier, blending personal memories, an intimate portrait of the artist, and aesthetic and technical reflections on his engravings and their place in the history of modern art. An engraver and close friend of Fautrier, Jean Signovert offers here a personal and particularly vivid account of the artist, whom he first met in Châtenay-Malabry after being sent to him by Roger Chastel. The manuscript opens with a reflection on the general public’s relative lack of familiarity with Fautrier and the still insufficiently recognized importance of his engravings and sculptures. Signovert draws parallels between Fautrier’s art and that of Goya and Hercules Seghers, and offers a detailed analysis of Fautrier’s technical explorations—etching, materials, etching bites, inking, and the renewal of modern printmaking. The text also takes the form of a veritable manifesto against the superficiality of Informal Art and the technical artifices of some of its followers: “Delirious painting, spontaneous gestures, the fusion of startling materials, and paintings completed in fifteen minutes are nothing more than sales pitches and propaganda.” Signovert then discusses Fautrier’s personality—his intelligence, his anxiety, his sensitivity, and his power to fascinate—with great candor. He shares several personal memories of their encounters and paints a striking physical and psychological portrait of the artist: “Fautrier has a hard, regal, eagle-like gaze”; “He is a being who hides himself only to explode all the more powerfully.” The manuscript also contains numerous references and quotations from André Malraux, Francis Ponge, Jean Paulhan, Georges Braque, and Paul Cézanne. The text concludes with a stirring tribute to Fautrier’s contribution to the history of printmaking: “Fautrier alone has shaped the entire field of modern printmaking and paved the way for new explorations. Who knows this? Who acknowledges it?” followed by this conclusion: “ Fautrier is a new Seghers who has come to revive printmaking, restoring its breadth and delicacy.” Transcription: “Fautrier, who remains relatively unknown to the general public, is a cause for concern. However, questions are being raised about him, especially among young painters. Yet while his paintings are gaining a larger audience every day and their influence is becoming increasingly felt, it remains true that his engravings are little appreciated, as is the significance of his sculpture—even though, as André Malraux says: ‘Don’t forget that Fautrier is one of our foremost sculptors.’ Fautrier’s engravings are of the highest caliber, and when I speak of his engravings, I cannot help but think of Goya. This man has a true vision of the tragic, just like Goya; moreover, his technique is that of Hercule Seghers. The pursuit of noble materials in his pictorial work is redirected and reinvented anew in his etchings; and his own words are the perfect testimony to this. “The destruction of routines brings us new riches every day; textures in the white areas through deep-etching, the bursting of the grain, the abandonment of resin grains in favor of a grain […] inspired by an idea, experiments with cracks—but the results have achieved their maximum effect since printing presses have been in the hands of artists. ” It is also for this reason that color etching has been completely revitalized, definitively abandoning polychromy to focus on understated effects by seeking results through inking and etching techniques. Enemy number one: the professional engraver. Unfortunately, things have not progressed as quickly as Fautrier would have liked, and etching today has by no means abandoned polychromy; indeed, much important experimentation has been squandered by the increasingly frequent use of gimmicks. Fautrier is not a trend-setter. He is a man of inspiration in the broadest sense of the word, devoted to his craft with the faith of a builder. Braque said: “Cézanne does not construct; he builds. ” This statement holds true for all the greats, and also—and above all—for Jean Fautrier; he is a builder, and his work possesses the grandeur and elegance of cathedrals. Modern art was undoubtedly born on the day the ideas of art and beauty became disconnected. […] Goya, perhaps? André Malraux asks us, and Fautrier carries this thought forward. This man is also a masterful draughtsman
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