Blancheur diaphane 1959

Leo Leuppi made this abstract composition, Blancheur diaphane, with paint or pencil— or both! —on paper. It looks like a collage of white shapes floating on a dark gray background. I can almost see Leuppi moving these shapes around, arranging them until they feel just right. He's using very simple, geometric forms like circles and rectangles, but also some more irregular, almost bird-like shapes. They feel precarious but also balanced. The marks and texture on the surface, make me think of early 20th century abstraction, but with a lightness all its own. Like he is looking at Synthetic Cubism or Purism and going somewhere else entirely. It’s like a ghostly dance. You can feel Leuppi thinking, feeling, and building up a pictorial space, and you get the sense that he is creating a brand new language with very few words.