Marcus de Vestele (1941-2024) - Grande composition Cobra “ La Horde “ 1975

Marcus de Vestele (1941-2024) La horde, 1975 Watercolor and ink on paper Signature: signed bottom right MARCUS 75 Dimensions: 72.5 × 48 cm Sold unframed Condition: good overall. Paper is supple, with light storage folds and a small deformation, but no impact on legibility. Colors firm, blacks decisive. On the reverse, atelier stamp “Marcus de Vestele / Atelier de l’artiste”. Provenance: artist’s studio of Marcus de Vestele. Description: Large watercolor from January 1975. A horde of standing figures, drawn in black ink and reinforced with washes of yellow, blue and ochre. On the left, a figure in extension, leg launched, gray speckled body, resting on a yellow patch. In the center, two more massive silhouettes, yellow tunics opened with white, heads masked by a black line. In front of them, a crouching figure, darker, and a black body that seems to be walking. On the right, an ochre presence almost dissolved into blue, then a final yellow-and-black figure, drier in appearance. At the bottom right, a figure lying on a broad yellow wash, like an animal or a body on the ground. The background is not a setting: an irregular blue band closes the top, two yellow fields anchor the corners. The color does not describe; it establishes the bodies. Quick ink, overdraws, white paper reserved. Direct gesture, figures barely contained, in the restrained primitive figuration associated with Cobra. A large sheet from 1975, directly from the artist’s studio, rare format for Marcus de Vestele’s papers. Biography: Marcus de Vestele (1941-2024) is a Belgian artist recognized first as a marble sculptor, notably in Carrara and in the Bardiglio. Alongside this, he pursued throughout his life a body of work on paper that remained in the studio for a long time, now sought after. Strongly marked by Cobra (Karel Appel, Asger Jorn, Pierre Alechinsky, Corneille, Constant), he retains the rough figure, the spontaneous line, and the tension between body and abstraction. This 1975 watercolor is an example: large format, ink and wash, figures held more by color than by drawing.

Estimate:£338.54

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