Le peintre et son modèle 1974

Curator: This acrylic on canvas is titled "Le peintre et son modèle" – or "The Painter and his Model" – by the French artist Gerard Fromanger. He painted it in 1974. It looks pretty big. I’d estimate that it must be nearly five feet square. Editor: That is a powerful painting. It immediately gives me the sense of witnessing something, like a scene playing out behind a curtain of color. Curator: Fromanger emerged as an important figure in the Parisian art scene following the events of May '68. We should see this image as related to Pop Art but deeply concerned with social issues. It seems like an effort to engage the relationship of painting with contemporary life, and especially street life. Editor: Absolutely. The overlay of red, the silhouettes, the lone green figure; the artist's control over contrast creates tension and a kind of detached observation. Tell me, what is happening in the background? Curator: We see a row of mannequins, and possibly shoppers; there’s definitely an advertising sign, though it is difficult to read in reproduction. You are right to see the artist observing a tableau of the fashion industry and commercial life as lived and experienced in France. Fromanger uses intense colors to engage and even provoke his viewers. I think he also invites the viewers to take their own places as witnesses and judges. Editor: So true. Notice how Fromanger balances the weight and texture, allowing colors and the implied lines between figures to give our eyes a clear route. He has created a composition using some brilliant formalism that is direct, but also sophisticated in its layers of colors and obscured forms. The green, for example. The symbolic figure, yes? Curator: I suspect you’re right. The street scenes that Fromanger loved gave him direct contact with real events and allowed him, and those of us who view them, to engage with debates over politics, labor, and how social change impacts us all. The figure may symbolize action, as one’s own place as a maker and a citizen. Editor: To me, there's an incredible feeling of observing this interaction without judgment but with intent and even curiosity. Fromanger seems to give us this intimate space to exist between observer and art. Thank you! Curator: A brilliant consideration, as always. It is tempting to consider oneself placed between this artistic event and to become our own figure within. Thank you for sharing your insight with me today!