Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Les Marraines

Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – 2010)
Title: The Godmothers - Surrealist Drawing
Date: 2006

Technique
Mixed media on paper (sanguine, pencil, white highlights and texture effects with transparencies and blotches)

Signature
Signed and dated “Detheux 2006” at bottom left. Original pencil inscription at bottom: “Étude pour ‘Les marraines’” (see photos)

Dimensions: Work: 45 × 31.5 cm

Sold unframed

Condition
Good overall condition. The irregularities of the paper, stains, traces of material and textured effects are integral to Detheux’s artistic language and are intentional by the artist. Beautiful natural patina of the support. No tears or major damage.

Provenance
Artist’s studio, kept in the family collection to date (direct and unimpeachable provenance)

Description of the work
Created in 2006, The Godmothers - Surrealist drawing is an enigmatic and powerful study by Robert Detheux. Four long-limbed female figures, with expressive faces and stretched bodies, surround a central element in the shape of a cradle or matrix containing several fetal or embryonic forms. The overall atmosphere is ritual and dreamlike, where sensuality, protection and mystery mingle.

The title “The Godmothers” evokes tutelary, initiatory or protective figures watching over a symbolic birth or secret transmission. The fluid sanguine line, the transparencies and the white highlights reinforce the hybrid and surreal aspect of the composition.

This work is part of a series exploring themes of maternity, corporeal memory and the unconscious. It perfectly illustrates Detheux’s intimate and graphic surrealism in the 2000s, where bodies become poetic metaphors rich in symbols.

A very beautiful drawing from this period, rich in interpretation.

Biography
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) is a singular figure of post-war Belgian art, close to surrealist and dadaist currents while developing a deeply personal language.

A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute of Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression in the advertising section at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, alongside his artistic career. From the 1950s, he distinguished himself by winning the Belgian Young Painting Prize (1953, 1954 and 1971).
His work, essentially graphic and often on paper, explores the human figure with constant attention to material, texture and the tension between form and psyche. His drawings from the 2000s are characterized by great freedom of line and a particular expressive intensity.