Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Le téléphone – 1957
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Robert Detheux – Le téléphone – 1957, watercolor and ink on paper, 46 × 33 cm, original edition, signed, Belgium origin, Surrealism, created in 1957, in very good condition and sold unframed.
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Description from the seller
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) – The Telephone – 1957
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: The Telephone
Date: 1957
Signature: Signed and sealed on the back with the artist's seal.
Technique:
Watercolor and ink on paper. Black ink for the line drawing and hatching, watercolor for the pink-violet background and the dark lower part.
Dimensions: 46 × 33 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. The material is held, the drawing is sharp, the watercolor is luminous. Some handling marks on the margins, without impact on the figure or subject.
Sold unframed.
Provenance: Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Work from 1957. Detheux was twenty-five years old. He had just received the Belgian Young Painter Prize. The drawing is already very personal, graphical and surreal.
On the right, a male head in profile, resting on a pedestal or rectangular box. The face is built with tight hatching, eyes half-closed, mouth closed, expression impassive. On the left, an old dial telephone, drawn with the same ink precision, the handset off the hook. The two objects sit on a horizon line, isolated in a pink-violet watercolor background, with a dark lower area.
Nothing explicitly links the head and the telephone, and that is precisely the point. The figure is silent, the telephone awaits. We are in a state of impossible communication, a charged silence. The pink-violet background does not depict any place: it isolates the two elements and reinforces their mutual strangeness.
This is an early drawing but already fully in Detheux's language: surreal juxtaposition, precision of line, hatching, a human figure reduced to a mute presence. The work belongs to his formative and recognition years, before the major feminine and spectral periods of the following decades.
Signed on the back, in good format and using a rare technique (watercolor and ink) in the collection: a significant piece from the 1950s for lovers of Belgian drawing and graphic surrealism.
Artist Biography:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in Tournai in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular figure in 20th-century Belgian art. A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while pursuing a personal body of work of great coherence.
From the 1950s, he established himself with a very personal surrealist and graphical language. He received the Belgian Young Painter Prize in 1953, 1954 and 1971. The following decades deepen the same territory. 1970s: body and female face, hybrid figures, textures. 1980s-1990s: grotesque, eroticism, black humor. 2000s-2010: spectral portraits, appearances, creatures.
This work belongs to his youthful years and his first recognition.
Little exhibited during his life, Detheux worked freely. The discovery of his studio fund (nearly 1,500 works) made this coherence visible.
His drawing, demanding and immediately recognizable, now attracts collectors of Belgian surrealism, in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
Seller's Story
About SR Fine Art
With nearly 28 years of experience in the art market, I am passionate about rediscovering artists’ studios and bringing their works to a wide audience on Catawiki.
I specialize in Belgian and European modern and contemporary art. My flagship collection is the studio archive of Robert Detheux (nearly 1,500 works on paper). I also offer surrealist drawings, beautiful abstract paintings from the 1950s, magnificent nude photographs by Michel Pinel, contemporary paintings, Cobra compositions, and works by Marcus de Vestele, Gundi Falk, René Mels, Eugène Eechaut and many others.
From intimate drawings to large formats, there is something for every taste and every budget. The vast majority of my auctions start at 1 € with no reserve price, giving everyone the chance to acquire unique pieces.
Every shipment is prepared with the utmost care using professional museum-quality packaging to ensure perfect condition upon arrival.
Join my growing community of satisfied clients and follow my new auctions to discover rare works from these exceptional studios.
Thank you for your trust and happy bidding!
SR Fine Art
Translated by Google TranslateRobert Detheux (1932-2010) – The Telephone – 1957
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: The Telephone
Date: 1957
Signature: Signed and sealed on the back with the artist's seal.
Technique:
Watercolor and ink on paper. Black ink for the line drawing and hatching, watercolor for the pink-violet background and the dark lower part.
Dimensions: 46 × 33 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. The material is held, the drawing is sharp, the watercolor is luminous. Some handling marks on the margins, without impact on the figure or subject.
Sold unframed.
Provenance: Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Work from 1957. Detheux was twenty-five years old. He had just received the Belgian Young Painter Prize. The drawing is already very personal, graphical and surreal.
On the right, a male head in profile, resting on a pedestal or rectangular box. The face is built with tight hatching, eyes half-closed, mouth closed, expression impassive. On the left, an old dial telephone, drawn with the same ink precision, the handset off the hook. The two objects sit on a horizon line, isolated in a pink-violet watercolor background, with a dark lower area.
Nothing explicitly links the head and the telephone, and that is precisely the point. The figure is silent, the telephone awaits. We are in a state of impossible communication, a charged silence. The pink-violet background does not depict any place: it isolates the two elements and reinforces their mutual strangeness.
This is an early drawing but already fully in Detheux's language: surreal juxtaposition, precision of line, hatching, a human figure reduced to a mute presence. The work belongs to his formative and recognition years, before the major feminine and spectral periods of the following decades.
Signed on the back, in good format and using a rare technique (watercolor and ink) in the collection: a significant piece from the 1950s for lovers of Belgian drawing and graphic surrealism.
Artist Biography:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in Tournai in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular figure in 20th-century Belgian art. A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while pursuing a personal body of work of great coherence.
From the 1950s, he established himself with a very personal surrealist and graphical language. He received the Belgian Young Painter Prize in 1953, 1954 and 1971. The following decades deepen the same territory. 1970s: body and female face, hybrid figures, textures. 1980s-1990s: grotesque, eroticism, black humor. 2000s-2010: spectral portraits, appearances, creatures.
This work belongs to his youthful years and his first recognition.
Little exhibited during his life, Detheux worked freely. The discovery of his studio fund (nearly 1,500 works) made this coherence visible.
His drawing, demanding and immediately recognizable, now attracts collectors of Belgian surrealism, in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
Seller's Story
About SR Fine Art
With nearly 28 years of experience in the art market, I am passionate about rediscovering artists’ studios and bringing their works to a wide audience on Catawiki.
I specialize in Belgian and European modern and contemporary art. My flagship collection is the studio archive of Robert Detheux (nearly 1,500 works on paper). I also offer surrealist drawings, beautiful abstract paintings from the 1950s, magnificent nude photographs by Michel Pinel, contemporary paintings, Cobra compositions, and works by Marcus de Vestele, Gundi Falk, René Mels, Eugène Eechaut and many others.
From intimate drawings to large formats, there is something for every taste and every budget. The vast majority of my auctions start at 1 € with no reserve price, giving everyone the chance to acquire unique pieces.
Every shipment is prepared with the utmost care using professional museum-quality packaging to ensure perfect condition upon arrival.
Join my growing community of satisfied clients and follow my new auctions to discover rare works from these exceptional studios.
Thank you for your trust and happy bidding!
SR Fine Art
Translated by Google TranslateDetails
Sold with frame
No
Sold by
Owner or reseller
Edition
Original
Artist
Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
Title of artwork
Le téléphone – 1957
Technique
Watercolour painting
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
1957
Condition
Good condition
Height
33 cm
Width
46 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
1950-1960
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