Page 49 - Studio International - July 1965

quality not always to be found in West End galleries. subject with a facility of complete conviction, expres­
Admired by Van Gogh, whom his work influenced sionist in its vigour. tachist in its tactile sensuality. His
considerably, Monticelli was one of the three outstand­ fetes galants, his masked balls, all are high-keyed,
ing Provenc;al artists of the nineteenth century-the high-impastoed scenes that Watteau and Fragonard
others were Cezanne and Guigou. Arthur Tooth and had handled in the previous century. But Monticelli, a
Sons Ltd. exhibited the most brilliant selection of his poor boy. found them outlets for fantasy and imagina­
works yet seen in this country. Twenty-four paintings tion. Cezanne. was a close friend and watched him
came from a French collection for sale here and with paint Van Gogh admired the jewel-like quality and was
justification they were titled 'La Belle Epoque 1871- much influenced by him. This. the first exhibition here of
1880'. In these ten years, Monticelli, having arrived the Provenc;al artist is a revelation and a delight.
back in Marseilles from Paris where he never set foot At the Hanover Gallery. Vasarely. the rightly nicknamed
again, created these sparkling paintings some of a life Father of Optical Art. showed his work once again. Some
he never knew, but imagined, and all aglow with a thirty-six oils. gouaches. collages, reliefs. metal
personal style far in advance of the period They look constructions and transparencies dating from 1952
as though the pigment was applied in solid patches onward to 1964 left little room for doubt that the
with the palette knife but in fact the paint was put on Hungarian-born painter is responsible by influence and
with the bristles cut to half length on his brushes. example for much of the popularity enjoyed by the style
Still lives, portraits, woodland scenes. women. today. The square. the circle. the rhomboid. the oval,
soldiers, ships-Monticelli handled each and every the triangle and variations and truncations of them are

Vasarely
Meta Ga!axie 1959/61
159 x 147 cm.
Hanover Gallery
33