François Morellet, order and disorder

[05/07/2016]

 

The great François MORELLET died on 10 May. We take a look back at the career of an outstanding figure of Geometrical Abstract art and an artist who inspired many of Minimalism’s seminal ideas.

Morellet started work in the 1950s with simple shapes, deliberately un-artistic flat colours, systems of juxtapositions, overlays and fragmentations. From the outset he chose to work with a paired-down geometry influenced by Piet Mondrian, Max Bill and the Concrete Art movement. For 60 years Morellet developed his artistic language in lines, structures, angles, shapes, colours, lights, making two-dimensional compositions, sculptures and architectural works using all kinds of materials including wood, fabric, tape, adhesives, neon lighting, building facades, etc.. He died just as his work was beginning to be appreciated by the auction market and demand for his work is today stronger than ever.

Based on formulae…

François Morellet’s creations were not about him. On the contrary, he tried to eliminate himself as much as possible from his work, rejecting all subjective decisions. No feelings… no intuition… no influence. He eschewed the mystification of art and the romanticism of creativity. Morellet controlled, or rather guided, the creative process. His works were invariably derived from some form of programme, usually based on a mathematical equation, or a numerical or geometric system. And since the programme or the root structure was the real origin of a work, Morellet gave the formula or method used as the title of his works. So, for example, 3 grillages superposés 0 °, + 15 °, – 15 ° (3 superimposed wire meshes 0°, + 15° – 15°) (1959) clearly explains the basis of the work (2 meshes superimposed at 15 degree angles each side of a first mesh). Morillet used materials and structures that deliberately allowed room for accidents to occur and chance to intervene. He used this approach to prevent himself from consciously manipulating his work according to any aesthetic criteria. In so doing, Morellet, effectively brought order and disorder together, with discordance, constant disruptions and absurd systems, imbuing his work with a subtle form of humour. An example of his work with chance is his Répartition aléatoire de 40 000 carrés suivant les chiffres pairs et impairs d’un annuaire de téléphone (Random distribution of 40,000 squares on the basis of the odd and even numbers in a phone directory) (1961) where numbers in a telephone directory are used to coordinate the positions of small squares of colour on a canvas. The work is therefore entirely composed by a neutral binary system. Morellet used this method in a number of two-dimensional compositions, using different colours in each one. These historical pieces are now much in demand on the secondary market, and his prices are taking off…

His market prices and his international reputation…

The art market is sometimes extremely slow in recognising the value of works produced by certain artists. François Morellet had more than 450 exhibitions and received numerous public and private commissions in Europe, including the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and in the United States. His work was shown at the Venice Biennale in 1971 and exhibited a number of times in European and American museums in the 1980s… and yet, despite all these signs of recognition and an active secondary market in Europe during the 80s and 90s, Morellet’s work remained very discreet on the auction market. During the 2000s, his prices tightened in reaction to a series of important European exhibitions (Paris’s Jeu de Paume National Gallery, the Musée Matisse Museum at Cateau-Cambrésis, the Concrete Art Foundation at Reutlingen, Germany). In 2010, Morellet was commissioned to make a permanent feature of the Louvre Museum: the artificial light windows on the famous Lefuel staircase in the Richelieu wing. Entitled L’Esprit d’escalier (The Stair Spirit), the windows successfully respond to a number of highly challenging specifications and the design incorporates an inverted image of the existing lead and glass structure. A permanent work in the Louvre… if that isn’t recognition…! In the wake of that project, Morellet’s auction market spiked in 2010 with a record annual turnover of $2.1 million (and only 2.4% of lots unsold!). The year also generated his all-time auction record: 2 trames de tirets 0° 90° (1972) was offered with an estimate of €30,000 and sold at €432,750 (c. $590,000) on 8 March 2010 (Sotheby’s Amsterdam). The following year, Paris’s Centre Pompidou organised a retrospective for Morellet entitled Réinstallations, which prompted Sotheby’s Paris to substantially upgrade his prices, offering the canvas Superposition de 2 trames de carrés (mailles 75mm et 80mm) inclinées à 2° et 178° with an estimate of €60,000 – €80,000 (Paris, 7 December 2011). The work reached €204,750 including fees ($274,000). In all, Morellet’s auction price index has risen a massive 502% since 2000.

Since Morellet’s death this year (aged 90) a number of tribute exhibitions have been organised. His presence in major art fairs is increasing and his secondary market is being closely watched in France (which accounts for over half of his market), the Netherlands (12% of his market), Germany and the United Kingdom (9% each), as well as in other European countries where Morellet is recognized as a key figure in the art of the second half of the 20th century.