(Boulogne-sur-Mer 1921–2012 Boulogne-Billancourt)
Charans, 1970, signed and dated 70; titled on the reverse, oil on canvas, 65 x 92 cm, framed

We are grateful to Jean-Marie Cusinberche for the assistance to the cataloguing of this work

Provenance:
Galleria Il Milione, Milan (label and stamp on the reverse)
European Private Collection

Mathieu’s pictorial writing is grounded in a certain number of basic signs and it would be of
interest to list and define these in an attempt to shed light on this mysterious artist.
These dynamic signs act, either simultaneously or one at a time, as springboard, launch pad
and trajectory for the development of his works.
Around 1965 the artist began to sense that the distinctive qualities of his calligraphy
could represent a risk of excessive automatism.
Clear headed as ever, he therefore decided to neutralise this element, introducing
instead a system of straight vertical and horizontal lines and static elements in
the form of well-defined areas. These obstacles, which Mathieu had constructed in opposition to his own virtuosity, facilitated the birth of new series […].
The disciplined restraint that gave birth to numerous successful works appears
to have relaxed from one side to the other in an explosive work, in which Mathieu
appears to be freer and more inspired than ever.
Paul Seylaz