Press release
Galerie Michael Werner, Märkisch Wilmersdorf is pleased to present an exhibition of works on paper by French artist Eugène Leroy (1910 – 2000). The exhibition brings together charcoal drawings, gouaches, watercolours as well as ink drawings made between 1979 and 1999.
The central theme of Eugène Leroy’s oeuvre, the nude, dominates the presented works. The charcoal drawings show the female body in various poses: some sitting, some lying, others bent forward or standing in both frontal and rear views. The bodies are outlined with a few fine lines and modulated in their depths with soft shading, the ink drawings washed again. Occasionally, dark areas encircle the white paper uncovering torso and legs. An expressive, restless and scribbled ductus dissolves the contours of the figures and indicates motion, which seems to get fixed into a gesture. “[…] I always start from a model, the subject in charcoal”, explained Leroy. “I work and work to reveal something, but something which is pure gesture.”
While in the black and white drawings the extremeties emerge intermittently, the human body disappears almost completely in the coloured gouaches. The whole sheet is covered by several overlapping coats of paint, reminiscent of the artist’s paintings.
Like Leroy’s paintings, in the artist’s drawings the visage is merely indicated. The person always remains anonymous and corporeality is in the foreground. In clear contrast to the nude drawings, also exhibited are light abstract landscapes in watercolour. You will look in vain for any figure there.
The exhibition opens at Galerie Michael Werner in Märkisch Wilmersdorf 9 September and remains on view through 18 October. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm. Booking in advance is recommended by phone +49 (0)33731 32010 or email galeriewerner@michaelwerner.de.