Cela qui gronde 1967

Huguette Arthur Bertrand made this artwork entitled Cela qui gronde with expressive marks and a dynamic color palette, full of movement and energy, which makes me think about artmaking as a really raw process. The materiality of this work is fascinating; you can see how Bertrand used different brushes and tools to create varying textures and effects. In the top right corner, the paint is thick, almost sculptural. It’s like she was wrestling with the medium itself, letting the physicality of the paint shape the image, which gives it an emotional charge, almost like a visual shout. Bertrand was a contemporary of Nicolas de Staël and her work bears some relation to his, though I’d say that she has a far more explosive, almost violent energy than de Staël, though both create art which leaves space for multiple interpretations.