Corneille (1922-2010) - Dans le Désert

Last available copy!

Rare 1960 screen print by Guillaume Corneille, founding member of the Cobra group with Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Constant, Dotremont, Alechinsky, and Jacques Doucet among others. One of our last copies!

In the Desert - (Niger River Valley)

In the Desert, between figuration and abstraction, conveys the impression of heat felt by the painter under a black sun, in a geological landscape where the four elements merge.

Corneille and his first wife Henny Riemens, great travelers and fascinated by Lévi-Strauss’s lectures and the first cinematic reports on Africa, embarked in 1956 and 1957 on the crazy project of crossing Africa by jeep and immersing themselves completely in the continent. Unlike Picasso or André Breton, who accumulated a collection of African objects without traveling, Corneille undertook several journeys to transform his love of Africa into living art. Very early, in 1947, at the age of 25, he followed the traces of Paul Klee in Tunisia and reproduced his itinerary.

This rare 1960 screen print shows a desert landscape near the Niger River.

Printed on gray-tinted paper in 50 copies. Reference: Donkersloot catalog raisonné No. 85 - Original screen print, titled, signed and dated in graphite by the artist at the bottom of the image.

Dimensions: 34 x 49.5 cm
Framing advised. Paper yellowed with age. In its current state, there are creases and veils in the paper. A small loss in one corner.

Provenance: Atelier Guillaume Corneille, painter born in Liège of Dutch parents, founding member of the Cobra group with Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Constant, Dotremont, Joseph Noiret and later Alechinsky or Jacques Doucet.