Executed in 1949 and 1953 respectively, Corneille’s Dépouillement (Dispossession) (lot 24) and Untitled (lot 97) stem from the collection of Ernest van Zuylen: the noted Belgian industrialist and patron of the arts, who was closely involved with the CoBrA movement. Born in 1886, van Zuylen rose through the ranks of his family’s tobacco and coffee business, while pursuing keen interests in art and photography. He became President of the Société Royale des Beaux Arts in his native Liège, and was one of the first collectors to purchase works by the CoBrA artists. The present two works bear witness to his fascination with Corneille: one of the group’s founding members, who played a pivotal role in its evolution.
Active between 1948 and 1951, CoBrA had a transformative impact on the painterly landscape of post-war Europe. Named after the geographic locations of its founders – Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam – it posed a wild, electrifying challenge to the dominance of the Parisian art world, spawning a collaborative network of artists across Northern Europe. Corneille – along with fellow Dutchmen Karel Appel and Constant – had been a member of the avant-garde ‘De Experimentele Groep’in the Netherlands. On 8 November 1948, these three artists came together with their Danish comrade Asger Jorn and the Belgian painter and poet Christian Dotremont, collectively putting their names to the group’s first manifesto. Creative freedom, spontaneity and interdisciplinary experimentation became some of their guiding principles, rejecting Western painterly tradition in favour of children’s art, mythology and primitivism. Together, the artists and their followers preached ‘creation before theory’, cultivating a raw, expressive language that they believed had the power to reveal fundamental truths about the human condition. Though the group itself was short-lived, its legacy was far-reaching: artists from Jean Dubuffet to Jean-Michel Basquiat would continue the spirit of these enquiries throughout the twentieth century.
Painted during the heady early days of the CoBrA revolution, Dépouillement (lot 24) captures Corneille’s fascination with mythic subject matter. Wrought like a piece of cave art or an ancient history painting, its anthropomorphic characters form an indecipherable narrative, rendered with rich, intuitive brushwork. Corneille drew inspiration from artists including Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Joan Miró, whose influence is palpable in the work’s surreal, dreamlike composition. After the disbandment of CoBrA in 1951, the artist travelled widely, exploring Africa, South America and other corners of the globe. Untitled (lot 97) reflects the jubilant light, colour and sensual textures that came to define his language during this period, influenced by sprawling landscapes, sun-scorched deserts and the decorative arts of tribal cultures he encountered. Its searing, visionary quality also speaks to his long-standing admiration for Vincent Van Gogh, who similarly drew inspiration from the rhythms, colours and patterns of nature.
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