Ackerhof 1 20 th – 21 st century art Lyrical Abstraction In the strict sense proposed by the painter In a more general sense, the expression Georges Mathieu and the art critic Pierre developed at the same time as a term Restany, lyrical abstraction referred to for any abstract tendency running counter a French equivalent of New York’s “ action to geometric abstraction (characterised painting ” after 1945 and during the 1950s. by the simplification of forms and the It was characterised by the production quasi-mathematical organisation of its of vehement signs, the gestural and spon- compositions) through its emphasis of taneous expression of forms deriving organic structures and the physical from impulses and the unconscious. involvement of the painters in their work. Whilst a certain lyricism was already In 1949, at the Salon des Réalités present in the work of Kandinsky before Nouvelles, the divide between proponents the First World War, and Hans Hartung of lyrical and geometric abstraction was before the Second World War, it is exacerbated following the publication by generally agreed that lyrical abstraction the salon committee of a manifesto originated with the 1947 exhibition stipulating that the only admissible form organised by the painter Georges Mathieu of abstraction belonged “ to the domains at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in of considered expression and Euclidian Paris. Mathieu wanted to call the regularity ”. Hartung, Schneider and exhibition “ Towards Lyrical Abstraction ”, Soulages came together to express their but the title was rejected by the disagreement. From that point on, mixed organisers. The artists involved were exhibitions became increasingly rare, Wols, Bryen, Hartung, Mathieu, Riopelle, before finally disappearing in 1950 at Atlan, Ubac and Arp, and it was in the onset of the dispute between hot and connection with the event that the art cold (in other words lyrical abstraction critic Jean-José Marchand first used the versus geometric abstraction). term lyrical abstraction to describe the remarkable works on display, which revealed an inner force through the traces of powerful gestures, as well as making a strong emotional impact on the viewer. The tendency also encom- passed the approach of figures like Schneider, Soulages, Hantaï and Degottex. Maria Elena Vieira da Silva, The Theatre of Gérard Philipe, 1975, oil on canvas Lyrical abstraction can encompass very different artistic currents – informal art, nuagisme, “ abstract landscape art ”, tachisme, etc. – and is quick to overlook their distinctive features, resulting in a term that is as vague in its definition as Georges Mathieu, Seventh Avenue, the New School of Paris, with which it 1957, oil on canvas overlaps. musee-unterlinden.com 1.