Georges Mathieu

Georges Mathieu (1921 - 2012)

Georges Mathieu was a French painter, illustrator, and designer. He was born on January 27, 1921, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. He studied humanities, law, and philosophy at the University of Lille, graduating in English. He began his artistic production in 1942, creating his first oil works under the influence of Lyrical Abstractionism, a movement of which he would become a leading exponent. He moved to Paris in 1947 and held his first solo exhibition in 1950. Two years later, he exhibited in New York.

From 1950 onward, he gained international recognition as an opponent of geometric abstraction and a defender of lyrical abstraction. His paintings became marked by quick, improvised calligraphic gestures. In 1959, he published the essay "From Aristotle to Lyrical Abstraction" in L'Oeil magazine, considered the manifesto of Tachism. In the late 1950s, he moved to the United States, where he began holding large-scale public painting exhibitions in short bursts.

Starting in 1962, he diversified his work into jewelry, furniture, tapestries, sculptures, and architectural projects. In 1974, he designed a ten-franc coin and produced graphic works for Air France. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1975. His works are displayed in museums around the world. He died on June 10, 2012, at the age of 91.