22 - Jean-Michel Atlan (1913–1960)

Jean-Michel Atlan (1913–1960) Untitled, 1953; pastel on paper, signed and dated lower right 25 x 32 cm Provenance: > Ader Drawings Auction, November 5, 2021, at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris—lot no. 195 > Private collection, Paris A certificate from Mr. Jacques Elbaz dated July 1, 2014, will be provided to the buyer. Condition Report: Framed “I am not abstract, neither in terms of the atmosphere of my works nor in terms of ‘execution.’ A form interests me only when it is alive (or when I have succeeded in bringing it to life), and then it is no longer abstract: it is alive!” Of Jewish-Kabyle descent, Jean Michel Atlan moved to Paris in 1930, where he studied philosophy before teaching it himself at various high schools until 1940. He was subsequently stripped of his position by the Vichy government and its anti-Semitic laws. It was not until 1941 that Jean-Michel Atlan took up painting; his early works were in the style of expressionist figuration. A year later, he was arrested because of his religion and his involvement in the Resistance. He ultimately managed to escape the extermination camps by feigning madness. In 1944, he published a small volume of poetry, *Le Sang profond*, and exhibited in a group show at the Salon des Surindépendants and in a solo exhibition at the Galerie Arc-en-Ciel. He then met a growing number of artists: Gertrude Stein in 1945, Asger Jorn in 1946, and later Karel Appel, Constant, and Corneille, members of the Cobra movement, which he joined in 1948. Like Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Serge Poliakoff, and Gérard Schneider—all friends and admirers of the self-taught artist—Jean Michel Atlan is a key figure in lyrical abstraction due to the importance he places on gestural expression. His work is characterized by sinuous, charcoal-like black lines that interplay with flat areas of color in a limited palette consisting of ochre, yellow, red, and black. The black outline in his works can also take on more angular forms, thereby bringing this thick material to life.