“Symétrie XIII”
Wool Tapestry by Raymond Picaud, 1/6, circa 1970
Michel Seuphor (1901–1999) born Fernand Berckelaers in Antwerp, adopted the pseudonym ‘Seuphor,’ an anagram for Orpheus, in 1917.
An author, essayist, art historian and critic Seuphor was one of the most reputable advocates of Abstract Art. He was at the inception of avant-garde groups and publications establishing the literary magazine, Het Overzicht, in Antwerp in 1921. From 1922 onwards, Seuphor moved at the heart of the European avantgarde in Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam and Paris, alongside the pioneers of Cubism, Dada, Futurism, Constructivism and Neo-Plasticism including Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Piet Mondrian, Fernand Léger, Albert Glezines, Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
Seuphor wrote and edited three books; A Dictionary of Abstract Painting (Tudor Publishing Co., 1958), Abstract Painting: 50 Years of Accomplishment (Dell Laurel Edition, 1964), and “The Sculpture of this Century” (George Braziller, Inc. NY, 1960). These volumes, now out of print, remain among the most valuable documents of abstract painting & sculpture in the 20th Century.
Seuphor’s oeuvre was characterized by use of paper, pen drawing and East Indian ink. He played with light and dark by drawing parallel lines closely together – from this interplay of lines arose abstract forms that evoked inner truths
Height: 65”/165 cm
Width: 84.5”/215 cm
