Jean DegottexSuite Rouge VII
1964
Gouache on paper
Signed and dated lower right
41.34 x 29.53 x 8.86 in ( 105 x 75 x 22.5 cm )

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Inquiry - Suite Rouge VII, 1964

In 1964, after a year of inactivity following the death of his daughter, Jean Degottex resumed the series of Écritures. The colour red dominates, this hue holds significant importance in the artist's work. It evokes passion, warmth, energy, but also anger or introspection.

Once the background is applied, the artist overlays India ink on the paper, which is laid on the floor, using a broad brush. The material is thin, and the calligraphy is applied with a light stroke. The writing floats in a space of air density. It is executed with a spontaneous and lively gesture, imbuing a sense of movement. The gesture seems restored to its purity.

A symbol has also been drawn: a cross. A symbol that can be found in the early paintings that follow the death of his daughter. Initially a sign of rebellion and denial, the cross gradually becomes integrated into his painting and titles.

This work is a remarkable example of Jean Degottex's quest to express the inexpressible, to allow the invisible to shine through, and to translate his inner world.

Jean Degottex, is a French painter, born in 1918 in Sathonay-Camp. At the end of the Second World War, Degottex met painters belonging to the Lyrical Abstraction movement, for which he adhered.

The first gallery to exhibit him in 1949 is Denise René. In 1951, he received the Kandinsky Prize.

In 1955 he met André Breton, who introduced him to Zen thought and oriental calligraphy, in particular that of China. It is from this discovery that Degottex's artistic research work will take another turn: all his next works will be influenced by surrealist automatic writing and by the essential principles of Zen philosophy.

The realization of a table takes place thus, the artist plunges into a meditative state which then allows him to apply dark colors on the bottom of his canvas, which thereafter, this state of meditation allows to prepare the gesture creative.

Jean Degottex died in 1988 in Paris.