Serpent de mer 1955

Rene Duvillier made this lithograph, Serpent de mer, with ink on paper. It’s got these big, swooping gestures in purple ink, kind of like calligraphy gone wild. You can almost feel the speed of his hand as he laid down each stroke; artmaking as an event. The purple is deep and intense, almost velvety, but then you get these surprising pops of teal, like little sparks of electricity. It looks like the ink was pretty fluid, allowed to bleed and pool in places, which gives it this watery, organic feel. There’s one particular swoop on the left, see how it tapers to a point and then blooms out again? It’s like Duvillier was playing with pressure, seeing how much he could push the ink to do. Duvillier reminds me of Henri Michaux, another artist who was all about exploring the subconscious through spontaneous mark-making. And like Michaux, Duvillier embraces the idea that art doesn’t have to explain everything. It can just be a feeling, a gesture, a moment captured in ink.