Offrande de la terre I 1961

Alfred Manessier conjured this 'Offrande de la terre I' with what looks like oil on canvas, weaving together dark greens, blues, and little hits of red. I see a kind of devotional act in the making of this painting. The artist, lost in thought, layering watery veils of paint. The vertical drips pull your eyes down, like rain on a window. And then this figure emerges, constructed from geometric shapes and a stained-glass palette. Was Manessier thinking of some earthly spirit, building it up piece by piece? You know, those vertical marks are interesting, they run through his whole oeuvre. You can see how he was playing with light and shadow, trying to capture something unseen. Like other painters, he looked both backwards and forwards, responding to what had come before and pushing towards something new. Each stroke is a conversation, a question. And maybe an answer.