Corneille (1922-2010) - Dans le Désert

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 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 blend together.

Corneille and his first wife Henny Riemens, avid travelers 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 turn his love for Africa into living art. Very early, in 1947, at the age of 25, he followed in Paul Klee's footsteps in Tunisia and reproduced the latter's itinerary.

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

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

Dimensions: 34 x 49.5 cm
Plan to frame. Yellowed paper from age. In its current state, with folds and stains on the paper.

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