L'Otage aux mains

L'Otage aux mains is an original etching realized by Jean Fautrier in 1944. Hand signed in pencil on lower right margin. Artist's proof. Edition of 50 prints. Excellent conditions.

Les Otages is a very important series realized by Jean Fautrier between 1942 and 1945, he also exhibited at the Drouin Gallery in Paris which was causing controversy. This exhibition was very important: some years later, the art critic Michel Tapié defined a new art movement, the absence of default shapes. Hostages: this name reflects the dramatic situation of the historical contingency in the war period, also the human condition of Twentieth-century. 

Jean Fautrier (Paris, 1898 – Châtenay-Malabry, 1964) was a very important French painter, illustrator and printmaker. He was one of the most important exponents of Tachisme and founded the Informalism with Jean Dubuffet. In 1922, he exhibited his paintings at the Salon d'Automne. One year later, he began to create etchings and engravings. His first solo exhibition was at the Galerie Visconti in Paris, in 1924. His late work is abstract, generally small in scale, often combining mixed media on paper. In 1960, he won the international grand prize at the Venice Biennale. Fautrier has been a very important artist because he elaborated a new language in art between the two World Wars: through Informalism, he has expressed the anxiety of the western society and the despair of the Modern.