Malicorne 1960

Curator: Well, this is certainly a striking piece! What leaps out at you? Editor: Foreboding, almost menacing. Those bold black strokes against the ochre background create a sense of unease. Is this a cityscape or a landscape in torment, perhaps? Curator: You've picked up on its emotional power so well. What we’re looking at is “Malicorne,” a landscape rendered in oil paint from 1960, by Huguette Arthur Bertrand. Although it has some expressionistic roots, I read the piece through neo-expressionistic tones, even if that movement hadn't fully coalesced at the time she painted this. The interesting thing here is that she abstracts it to the point where it feels less like observation and more like a memory, or an emotional response to a place. Editor: The palette contributes so much to that sense of a half-forgotten place. All those browns and blacks make the city look desolate. What do the verticals and drips evoke to you? Curator: Ah, that's the essence of her language, I think! The stark verticals become urban monoliths but at the same time there’s fragility as the drips indicate decay and suggest vulnerability. The artist seems to use form to carry emotion; not just representation, but… felt reality. Do you feel she succeeds? Editor: Absolutely. She's tapping into something primal here. The contrast between those heavy blocks and the delicate drips speaks volumes about power and impermanence. And I'm struck by how modern it feels, even decades later. Curator: Modern and strangely prescient, maybe even, of urban angst. You see so many depictions that try to depict these themes, but so few where the art truly has the emotional tone right. Editor: Looking at Bertrand's work, I'm reminded that powerful imagery can endure—carrying cultural weight and personal experience, speaking to different eras across generations. Curator: Beautifully put. She created a truly iconic… emotional symbol of its age.