Page 56 - Studio International - October 1965

makes one realize that at heart he is a brilliant artist. wrote a book on non-figurative and non-objective art
At the Museum of Modern Art a most revealing which defined the system of abstract painting. which
exhibition is being held of acquisitions and donations he originated.
to the State of paintings. sculpture. engravings. draw­ At the same time as the holding of this exhibition of
ings and tapestries. during the past ten years. Principal acquisitions and donations. the Museum of Modern Art
among the generous donators is Doctor Girardin. It is has finally succeeded in putting in place. in a great
an acknowledged fact that French doctors and dentists separate room. the enormous work by Raoul Dufy.
appear to be the most talented collectors. Doctor La Fee electricite. This vast composition which was
Girardin's collection was remarkable in its variety and originally commissioned for the 1937 International Art
selection of works by little known artists who even­ Exhibition in Paris. measures 60 metres long by 10
tually became famous. It was he who 'discovered' metres high. It consists of no less than 250 panels and
Bernard Buffet when he was living in misery in a the time and trouble taken to assemble them and to
dismal. cold empty studio up in Montmartre. spot-light them correctly has been a tremendous work.
One of the most sensational canvases which was Opposite the Museum of Modern Art. on the Avenue
recently acquired by the Museum of Modern Art is a du President Wilson. is the Musee Galliera where an
striking and brilliantly coloured composition by Auguste out-of-this-world exhibition is being held. 'Babel 65',
Herbin. entitled Composition sur le nom commun as it is called. brings together the sculpture and mural
Danswse. Herbin. who died in 1960. was little known paintings of a group of ambitious young artists who,
during his lifetime and even today few have heard of striving to produce a new idealism in art. aim to create
him. But he was an important figure in the world of a new Tower of Babel which will not topple but will
abstraction. His paintings which were originally cubist finally reach heaven as a permanent art and architec­
in character were rejected. along with those by Braque. tural expression for once and all. This is certainly an
Michel Mousseau at the Salon d'Automne. in 1907. Some twenty years ambitious scheme. to say the least. Most of the works
Sea1ed Nude 1956 later he founded the Abstract-Creation group and on view are 'maquettes· for their grandiose projects
Galerie 'La Cave·
could never be exhibited in the largest museum in the
world. They would have to be placed in some great
park and the elaboration and cost of planning such an
exhibition would be far too costly. It is doubtful.
therefore. that a second 'Babel' exhibition. in reality,
will ever take place.
One of the exhibitors of 'Babel 65' is Hanich whose
work I referred to in a recent issue of The Studio when
he was exhibiting his canvases at the Galerie Houston­
Brown. One of his most intriguing compositions was
entitled The Third Eye. There was an element of Eastern
religion in this strange painting and I enquired if he
practised Zen philosophy. He told me that while he did
not actually practise it. he was very interested in its
theories. 'The Third Eye·. he said. 'is a vast title for a
painting. But for me it does signify sensibility, con­
struction, dream-world. and a sense of chance and
many other things ... · This statement coincides. in a
way. with the structure which he shows in a dark
corner of the Mu see Galliera. Th i's is a rotating sculptural
object which is lit by fast moving flashing lights. It is
entitled Automobile Spatial Observatory. He told me
that it should be conceived a hundred times larger.
that is to say some 500 metres high and therefore built
in a space devoid of gravity. It would be organised so
that. for instance. its visitors could go through its
lobbies and its inclines in order to follow its curved
translucent columns. the spectacle of the galaxy
through which it would be moving. And so here. I
suppose is the explanation of his miniature 'structure·
which he would hope to become an everlasting new
Tower of Babel. The photograph on page 172 shows
a coloured floodlit section of his rotating ·structure'.
Ever on the outlook for poetic paintings by young
artists of promise-which. these days, is like looking
for a needle in a haystack-I was gratified to come
across the work of Michel Mousseau who is showing
currently at a new gallery. 'La Cave·. in the Rue de
Miromesnil. His subtle landscapes are quasi-figurative.
He has started to earn success with his first one-man
exhibition for it is obvious that he had studied drawing
intensely, as evinced in his painting of a Seated Nude
(reproduced here). I hope to speak more favourably of
the work of Mousseau in the near future. ■
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