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GIMPEL FILS PRESS RELEASE
LOUIS LE BROCQUY
Homage to his Masters
23 November 2006 13 January 2007
"Echo is a good word" Louis le Brocquy, September 2006
Louis le Brocquy is Ireland's most distinguished living artist. Born in Dublin in 1916, his career has spanned over seventy years, and he has become a dominant force in the evolution of Irish art. This exhibition comprises new work and demonstrates le Brocquy's continuing commitment to exploring the human figure through the medium of paint.
Throughout his career, Louis le Brocquy has experimented with the abstraction and dissolution of the figure, and the works included in this exhibition evince le Brocquy's continued investigation of the human form. Le Brocquy is perhaps best known for his Portrait Head series that he has worked on since the mid-1970s. Examining individual personality through fractured, interiorised portraits, le Brocquy painted artists and writers in an attempt to discover the true nature of their identity. These portraits were followed by Human Images explorative and meditative paintings in which the human form is dispersed into particle forms.
Homage to his Masters sees le Brocquy return to his early artistic influences, Velasquez, Goya, Manet and Cézanne. Le Brocquy visited Paris, London, Venice and Geneva, in 1938, and seeing works by these artists cemented his own desire to become a painter. Each of the paintings in this exhibition has its source in a masterpiece by one of his four artistic forbearers. Four Odalisques, dominate the show, each female nude echoing the compositional design of Manet's Olympia. These works are not intended as reproductions or copies, but rather, le Brocquy has used Manet's painting as a starting point for his own concerns. Shape, colour, and the dissolution of the human form become the primary subject matter.
In his 90th year, Louis le Brocquy has returned to his artistic beginnings and this look back to his early influences is particularly resonant for Gimpel Fils. This year the gallery celebrates its 60th Anniversary, and having exhibited le Brocquy's work in its inaugural year, the forthcoming exhibition also marks the 60th anniversary of our relationship with this exceptional artist.
Louis le Brocquy represented Ireland at the 1956 Venice Biennale, in which he was awarded an international prize, and his work was included in the historic exhibition Fifty Years of Modern Art at the World Fair in Brussels, 1958. He has had numerous solo exhibitions across the globe and his work is represented in public collections such as the Guggenheim, New York and the Tate, London. In Ireland Le Brocquy's contribution to art was celebrated with a major retrospective in 1996 at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Louis le Brocquy is the first and only living artist ever to be included in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. Le Brocquy was made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, France, in 1975, and Officier des Arts et des Lettres, in 1996. President Mary Robinson conferred him with the title of Saoi, Aosdana, in 1994. In 1998, Louis le Brocquy was presented with the first IMMA/Glen Dimplex award for a sustained contribution to the arts. Honorary degrees include Hon. Litt. D., University of Dublin, 1962; Hon. Ll. D., University College, Dublin, 1988; Hon. D. Phil., D. Univ., Queen's University, Belfast, 2002; Hon. Associate, NCAD, Dublin, 2006.
In celebration of his 90th Birthday, and in recognition of his importance to Irish art, a major documentary was shown on RTE Television entitled Louis le Brocquy, The Inner Human Reality, 21 February 2006. The Irish Museum of Modern Art and Hunt Museum, Limerick have both held exhibitions of le Brocquy's work this year. In November, The National Gallery of Ireland will host the exhibition: "Louis le Brocquy. Portrait Heads A celebration of the artist's ninetieth year", from 4 November 2006 - 14 January 2007, representing the first ever by a living artist to take place in the museum. In Paris, the Galerie Jeanne-Bucher will host a retrospective exhibition of his work from 12 October - 10 November, and the Tate Britain will mark the artist's 90th with a presentation of works from 6 - 22 November.
For further details please contact Cece Faville.
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Gallery opening hours: Mon - Fri 10am - 5.30pm, Sat 11am - 4pmGimpel Fils, 30 Davies Street, London, W1K 4NB t: 020 7493 2488 info@gimpelfils.com