René Mels (1909-1977) - Composition abstraite gestuelle - 1960

René Mels (1909-1977) – Gestural Abstract Composition – Pastel and mixed media on paper – Circa 1960 – Stamp of the artist's workshop on the back

Details:

• Artist: René Mels (René Meulemans, 1909-1977)
• Title: Gestural Abstract Composition
• Era: Circa 1960

• Dimensions: 41 × 31 cm (overall dimensions with frame and black passe-partout)

• Framing: Sold framed in an elegant natural light wood frame with black passe-partout

• Condition: Very good overall condition

• Signature: Artist's stamp “René Mels / Atelier de l’artiste” on the back

Description of the work

Here is a beautiful and powerful composition by René Mels dating from around 1960, a period when the artist fully asserts his abstract language while retaining a structure evoking the landscape.

On a neutral gray paper background, Mels builds a horizontal, rhythmic and dynamic composition. Dark bands and energetic strokes in black and deep blue cross the space, creating a dialogue between sky and earth. The broad strokes of white and gray pastel, subtle scrapes and layers of material give the work great vitality. A vivid yellow touch in the lower right corner provides a bright and unexpected note that energizes the whole.

Pastel work reveals the artist's technical mastery: subtle shading, successive layers, scraping and relief effects. The composition, though gestural and free, remains structured, almost “panoramic,” characteristic of this transitional phase toward the larger, more radical abstractions of the mid-1960s.

An authentic, expressive work and very representative of René Mels's maturity in the 1960s. Perfect for fans of post-war Belgian abstraction and gestural pastel.

Biography
René Mels, real name René Meulemans (Herent, April 14, 1909 – Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, December 15, 1977), is a Belgian artist of many facets: painter, draftsman, etcher, sculptor, ceramicist, and master glassmaker.

Trained at the Leuven Academy (under Alfred Delaunois), then at the Brussels Academy (1930-1933) and at La Cambre (1937-1938), he began with a figurative expressionist style before evolving toward abstraction from 1947. He joined the group Jeune Peinture Belge, stayed in Paris (Belgian state grant, 1950) and worked at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17. In 1952, he joined the group Art Abstrait and co-founded in 1963 the etchers' group Cap d’Encre.

A master of printmaking (123 works donated to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium), he translates this sensitivity to matter into his drawings and paintings. His abstract compositions of the 1960s, often structured around the golden ratio, are among his most accomplished works.

His works are in numerous public and private collections: Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Cabinet des Estampes in Brussels, Museum of Leuven, Gaspar Museum (Arlon), Bibliothèque nationale de Paris, etc.