THE HIRELING SHEPHERD

Just after World War II, many artists old and young were back in Paris where they worked and exhibited: Nicolas de Staël, Serge Poliakoff, André Lanskoy and Zaks from Russia; Hans Hartung and Wols from Germany; Árpád Szenes and Simon Hantaï from Hungary; Alexandre Istrati from Romania; Jean-Paul Riopelle from Canada; Vieira da Silva from Portugal; Gérard Ernest Schneider from Switzerland; Feito from Spain; Bram van Velde from the Netherlands; Albert Bitran from Turkey; Zao Wou Ki from China; Sugai from Japan; Sam Francis, John Koenig, Jack Youngerman and Paul Jenkins from the U.S.A.

All these artists and many others were at that time among the “Lyrical Abstractionists” with the French: Georges Mathieu, Pierre Soulages, Nallard, Jean René Bazaine, Jacques Doucet, Camille Bryen, Jean Le Moal, Gustave Singier, Alfred Manessier, Roger Bissière, Pierre Tal-Coat, Jean Messagier and others.

Lyrical Abstraction was opposed not only to “l’Ecole de Paris” remains of pre-war style but to Cubist and Surrealist movements that had preceded it, and also to geometric abstraction (or “Cold Abstraction”).

Lyrical Abstraction was in some ways the first to apply the lessons of Kandinsky, considered one of the fathers of abstraction. For the artists in France, Lyrical Abstraction represented an opening to personal expression. In Belgium, Louis Van Lint figured a remarkable example of an artist who, after a short period of geometric abstraction, has moved to a lyrical abstraction in which he excelled.

Many exhibitions were held in Paris for example in the galleries Arnaud, Drouin, Jeanne Bucher, Louis Carré, Galerie de France, and every year at the “Salon des Réalités Nouvelles” and “Salon de Mai” where the paintings. Just after World War II, many artists old and young were back in Paris where they worked and exhibited: Nicolas de Staël, Serge Poliakoff, André Lanskoy and Zaks from Russia; Hans Hartung and Wols from Germany; Árpád Szenes and Simon Hantaï from Hungary; Alexandre Istrati from Romania; Jean-Paul Riopelle from Canada; Vieira da Silva from Portugal; Gérard Ernest Schneider from Switzerland; Feito from Spain; Bram van Velde from the Netherlands; Albert Bitran from Turkey; Zao Wou Ki from China; Sugai from Japan; Sam Francis, John Koenig, Jack Youngerman and Paul Jenkins from the U.S.A.