Press release
Galerie Michael Werner is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of works by French artist Eugène Leroy (1910-2000). The exhibition focuses on the paintings of the “artist of the century”, presenting small- and large-format oil paintings made between 1978 and 1996.
The viewer’s first impression while observing Eugène Leroy’s paintings is the overwhelming notion of pure color. In the artist’s words, Leroy struggled against the “matter” of oil-based paint. Leroy “dirtied” the canvas by thickly layering oil paint and compressing and applying the paint with a palette knife. Various colors intertwine and multifarious streaks form with the brush. Fine lines and swirling spirals of color build a crater-shaped landscape. Particular color sections turn impasto and rise up, the color reaching into space. Inevitably, associations to paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn, an artist Eugène Leroy admired, are awakened.
The materiality of color becomes clear in Leroy’s work. Surrounding space and motif merge into one another, oscillating between abstraction and figuration. Heads, flowers and nudes slowly emerge from masses of paint and gain clarity through the process of perception: depending on the incidence of light and the viewer’s vantage point, shadows change and points begin to shine. The congealed color implies a movement that the viewer continues with their eyes, and thus, with respect to the creative process (as well as to the act of perception), spatiality and temporality blend together in the painting’s materiality.
Eugène Leroy has been the subject of numerous major exhibitions worldwide, including Wiener Secession (1970), École des Beaux-Arts, Lille (1977), Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Gent (1982), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1988), Kunsthalle Basel (1997), Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2000), MUba - Eugène Leroy, Tourcoing (2010). He has also participated in XXI. Biennale Internationale de Sao Paulo (1991), documenta IX, Kassel (1992) and the 46th Venice Biennale (1995). Eugène Leroy was honored with the Prix Emile-Othon Friez in 1977 and with the French Grand Prix Nationale de la Peinture in 1996.
The exhibition opens at Galerie Michael Werner in Märkisch Wilmersdorf 6 November and remains on view through 20 December. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm. Booking in advance is recommended by phone +49 (0)33731 32010 or email galeriewerner@michaelwerner.de.