Page 55 - Studio International - June 1965

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1
Disembarkation 1964
2
Back door ro rhe Palace 1962
33 x 41 cm.
3
Early morning on rhe roof 1961
60 x 73 cm.

initially caught my attention. The roofs of Paris were tinted in an dirigibles. It's all supposed to be very strange. Entrancing. Yet. two
exquisite vieux rose which melted into dusty greys or hints of minutes after you have seen his painting. the shock begins to
umbrous blue. The artist was Helion. wear off. The picture remains. but an essential part of its raison
Today, for me. the roofs fall neatly into place. I can see them as d'etre is lost. It's only half a picture. And as for the bread ... it is no
part of the logical progression of Helion·s work, but on that longer of any importance.
summer's day in Paris seven years ago they had the effect of a · But when I paint bread. the loaves lie on this round table. It is a
profound shock. Since then I have met Helion a number of times perfectly natural place for them. but their appearance in my
and have visited his studio in the Rue Michelet. He has shown me picture is redolent with mystery; not a mystery that can be dis­
pictures from every period of his work. but nothing will ever quite pelled in a few moments. but one which will last forever. I cannot
recall the immediate pleasure of discovery that I experienced in go along with the surrealists and their shock tactics. Fireworks so
1958 in the Galerie Cahiers d'Art. Such a moment has nothing to ephemeral that after the last spark has been extinguished there is
do with quality. not even the smell of gunpowder left.'
Helion·s transformation has not only led to a change in style. the So Helion is working upon all the classical subjects even though
quality of his paint since 1957 has become much free-er. Instead his paint is infused with a romantic ardour. Sometimes there is a
of the flat or formally shaded metal colours of the past, he now picnic on the roof. The figures are lively-no longer caught in a
uses a restrained palette with occasional outbursts of rich ultra­ kind of clinical vacuum. Downstairs or in the attics he drapes his
marine blues and flashing scarlet. Earth colours predominate. The nudes. traditionally reclining upon couches or slumped in
paint itself is fluid and. in spite of a disciplined sense of composi­ fauteuils. It is almost as if he is deliberately working through the
tion. is as vividly romantic as Delacroix. The other change is in inventory of the grande maniere. In his portraits. features are
subject. Not so much because of the emphasis upon reality, but never at rest. The hard-edge single eye which excited the amateur
because of the multiplicity of themes which currently excite him. psychologists of New York has been lost in a swirl of ecstatic
The crowded street. the barrow of an itinerant flowerseller. brush strokes where nothing is finite. He has been released from
butchers· shops. meat hauliers fascinate him in the city. In the the arrested moment and is delighting in the spontaneity of
summer. when he goes to Belle-Isle. he paints boats and the lorries chromatic change. There are still collectors. dealers and gallery
and cars drawn up at the waterside. The still lites of Paris give owners and critics who see in the new Helion a change they are
way to the fields of the countryside. For him. naturalism is a creed. not prepared to accept. Others assert that such an artist has every
a campaign against artificiality. The ground is the floor. Sky is the right to vary his style. even drastically, if necessary. Helion·s embar­
ceiling. Everything between supports one above the other.Objects. cation into reality pre-dates the great dialogue in Paris between
too. have a special significance. A trumpet or a battered kepi figurative and abstract art but because of his experience in both
bought in the Marche aux Puces are imbued with an immobile camps he can speak with authority for each. His has been no easy
character. This is not. Helion tells us. just a dented old musical path but he has trodden it gladly. Just as much as any other
instrument or a crumpled red cap. Each. on his canvases. is trans­ modern artist, he is conscious of a 'personal demon' who directs
lated. A kind of alchemy. his brush. Deliberate attempts to influence or modify the demon's
It was in connection with these 'objects' that Helion drew atten­ control do not lead very far.
tion to the deep divide between himself and the surrealists. Demon or muse-Helion has always followed its dictates.
'Take Magritte. for instance·. he said to me. 'When he paints loaves Because he is a fine painter. it does not matter very much how he
of French bread. they cruise through the sky like a flotilla of paints anyway. ■
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