Woman and a Pierre Soulages

Artist Robert Ballagh (b. 1943)

Date1973

MediumScreenprint and collage on paper

Dimensions80.3 x 39.7 cm

ClassificationsPrint

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Purchased, 1975.

Object number1395

DescriptionThis is a four colour screenprint on eight separate pieces of card, placed together to form one overall image. The woman is cutout on a separate piece of paper and attached to the background pieces of card. She is standing in front of a painting by the French abstract artist Pierre Soulages (b. 1919). She is facing the painting and observing it. She has golden blonde hair and is wearing a pink jumper and the cuff of a white shirt or blouse is sticking out from under the jumper on her right arm. Her skirt is knee length and pleated with a red floral design typical of 1970s fashion. Her legs are crossed, right behind left, so she is leaning mostly on her left leg. She is wearing plain black shoes with high thick heels. Her left arm cannot be seen and she is holding a pair of white-rimmed sunglasses in her left hand. The Pierre Soulages painting is hanging on a pale olive green wall and the floor is dark olive green. The painting is centrally placed in the overall composition of the print with the woman occupying the left half. Soulages' work is composed of three vertical thick black stripes set against a cream coloured background. The three stripes are linked at the top by horizontal brushstrokes and the overall effect is of an oriental character and oriental calligraphy.

The painting by Pierre Soulages is entitled 'Painting'. Soulages was born in Rodez in the south of France and was predominantly self-taught as an artist. He moved to Paris in 1946, where he took up painting seriously. Following his first solo exhibition in 1949 Soulages became known as one of the leading exponents of ‘Tachisme’. His paintings typically feature broad and powerfully applied strokes of black paint arranged in horizontal and vertical bands, which intersect and overlap each other. Soulages’s work has an air of controlled spontaneity and shows the influence of oriental calligraphy.

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