René Mels (1909-1977) - Composition abstraite de 1975

René Mels (1909-1977) – Composition – 1975 – Watercolor – Signed and dated René Mels (1909-1977) Composition Watercolor on paper, 1975 Signature Signed “R. Mels” at the bottom right. Date in pencil, next to the signature: “75”. Verso blank, except for a small pencil annotation at the bottom left. Dimensions 41.5 × 30 cm Sold unframed Condition Beautiful sheet, light tones preserved. Paper slightly yellowed with time, a few handling creases and gentle undulations, normal for an unmounted watercolor. Small isolated stains inherent to the paper. No significant loss visible. The recto remains clean and bright. See photos. Description Watercolor from 1975, untitled. The sheet is built with overlapping washes: pink and carmine masses on the left and right, violet swaths at the top, water greens and olive grays in the center, diluted browns at the bottom. The shapes remain open — petals, roots or reflections — allowing the white of the paper to show through. The gesture is broad, wet, with some drier touches and halos of successive layers. No apparent underdrawing: the watercolor alone carries the composition. This is a late work, two years before Mels’s death, in the same lyrical manner as the olive trees of Provence from those years. The format is more compact than the large sheets of 1951. The color is noted by masses, without description. Biography René Mels (René Meulemans, 1909-1977) trained at the Academies of Leuven and Brussels, then at La Cambre. After an expressionist beginnings influenced by Permeke, he moved toward abstraction from 1947. An active member of Jeune Peinture Belge (exhibitions 1947-1948 at the Palais des Beaux-Arts of Brussels), he joined the group Art abstrait in 1952 and co-founded Cap d’encre in 1963. His work is characterized by a concern for construction, a flexible writing style and expressive chromaticism. In 1950, a state grant allowed him to work at Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17 in Paris. His watercolors, engravings, pastels and paintings are in numerous public Belgian and international collections, notably the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.

Estimación:€300

Ver todos los artículos deCatawikioArte contemporáneo