Exhibition

At the end of the 1970s, Pierre Célice (1932-2019) marked a major break, both in form and color, with his cubist filiation following the death of his master Henri Hayden (1883-1970). This reaction to the abstract schools, the minimal and conceptual art that had prevailed since the post-war period, is part of the international "Pattern and Decoration" movement.

Form: deploying a new plastic expression around a repetitive "motif", it refers to the ornamentation used for wallpapers, printed fabrics. Non-Western works also influence it: "Ndebele women's art, Cameroon's batcham masks, Nazca geoglyphs in Peru, Yemen's architecture" (Interviews, From floor to ceiling - Carte Blanche to Célice, Museum of Evreux, 2010).

Color: Leaving the ocher monochromes of cubism, he enriches his palette with the bright shades of his time: "lemon yellow, ocean blue, cadmium red, Islam green". Beyond the borders of abstraction and figuration, the formal organization and the exuberance of colors initiate a minimalist universe shimmering and alive.

A selection of works from 1978 to 1990 will be presented by the Françoise Livinec gallery to rediscover this movement, exhibited last year at Mamco, Geneva, and this year at the Consortium in Dijon.


Public collections (selection)
Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris
Tate, London