56 - Aude JESSEMIN (born 1937)

Aude JESSEMIN (born 1937) Untitled, 1976 Collage and mixed media Signed and dated; label and annotation on the back: “Ville italienne,” Grenoble 1981. 33x25 cm An active figure in the Lettrist movement, Aude Jessemin was part of an artistic movement founded in 1947 by Isidore Isou. Originating in poetry and literary creation, Lettrism quickly expanded into numerous artistic fields, notably cinema, dance, and the visual arts. In this collage, Aude Jessemin unfolds a rich and varied world, constructed like a veritable visual rebus. The artist juxtaposes and reinterprets architectural and decorative references from diverse sources: Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, a 1960s American skyscraper, fragments inspired by the frescoes of the Italian Primitives, Arabic script, checkerboard patterns, and geometric motifs… Assembled in a deliberately enigmatic composition, these elements seem to echo one another without ever immediately revealing their meaning, resulting in a work that is both erudite and surreal.